Girls Und Panzer: Legends
by Thorthemighty321
Summary: During the 64th Annual Sensha-dou Tournament; with war happening in Korea, the Chinese suddenly declare war on both Japan, the United States, and South Korea. Launching a devastating strike on American and Japanese Naval Assets with a follow-up invasion of Japan. Caught behind enemy lines, Miho must lead both her team as well as Kuromorimine's tankery team to safety. Co-op fic.
1. The Oncoming Storm

**AN: A little idea that I have decided to put on paper. Might sound a little bad, truth be told, but I am going with it. The idea is rather creative.**

 **This is going to be a co-operative work between myself and The Dead Baron if your on FFN or Burning Baron if you are on Sufficent Velocity. Who is admittedly probably better informed about some things than I am. Note in the author's notes Baron's segment is in italics while my section isn't.**

 _ **Hello there. I will admit, the last time I wrote something even approaching this was high school English class. I got a C. I was never very good at creative writing.**_

 **Nothing is ours save the OCs and plot. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Onboard an Unknown School Ship somewhere in the Pacific_

 _June 8th, 2045_

A young woman wearing a knee length blue and green dress, with an insignia of some kind on the left arm is sitting on a bench in a park, underneath a large Oak tree. Birds were chirping in the background. Her face wasn't seen as it was in the shadow that was being cast by the tree, but she had her hands resting in her lap, which was heavily scarred, one of which went up her arm till it was lost in the shade.

Off in the distance the rumble of tank engines, the clanking and clattering of tracks, the thundering discharge of tank cannons, and the distinct rat-tat-tat-tat of machine guns echoed off the trees and buildings. Signaling that the school's Sensha-dou team was out doing practice in the form of maneuvering and firing, as well as most likely doing maintenance to the various tanks.

"Them? Yeah, I knew them. You might want to take a seat, it's gonna take a while. It all happened years ago." The young woman said, looking directly at the person who had asked the question.

"Did you know that there are several types of tank crews and commanders?" she said with the slight ghost of a smile on her face. "Those who seek pride, those who seek strength, those who trust their teammates with their lives, those who will sacrifice everything to protect their teammates, and those who can read the tide of battle and make a decision that changes it's course?" She said, counting them off with her fingers.

She was a loader that some called 'Lightning', she is a colleague of the group I seek. Twenty years ago, there was a war that engulfed the entire region: The Dragon War. A vicious five year long conflict with Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America on one side and People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the other. When the invasion of Japan started, with the Chinese dropping airborne infantry and tanks into Japan, something incredible happened. Several Sensha-dou teams were caught behind enemy lines, in an amazing display of bravery, ingenious tactics, and sheer determination managed to get the safety of the Ibaraki pocket. It inspired respect and admiration in many people on both sides. They are the ones I seek. And so with the words of 'Lightning', and the tankers, soldiers, and aces who took part in the conflict, the curtain rises.

"Semi-finals match area of the 64th Annual Sensha-dou Tournament, Niigata Prefecture… it was such a cold and snowy day."

* * *

 _Niigata Prefecture, Japan_

 _December 20th, 2025_

The ground was covered in snow, with more falling at a rather steady rate of two and half centimeters every three hours, plus there was fifteen centimeters of snow on the ground already. Yet that didn't faze the tanks and tankers of the Ooarai Girls High School Sensha-dou team. Ten tanks were moving in a loose wedge formation, in the formation was one Panzer IV Ausf. H Medium Tank, one StuG III Ausf. G Tank Destroyer, one Hetzer Tank Destroyer, one Type-3 Chi-Nu Medium Tank, one Type 89B Medium Tank, one Porsche Tiger Heavy Tank, one M3 Lee Medium Tank, one Valentine Mk X Infantry Tank, one P.26/40 'Fast' Heavy Tank, and one KV-85 Heavy Tank.

Each tank was emblazoned with a different emblem besides the Ooarai Girls High School Emblem denoting the various teams of the school. There was a variety of animals from a Pink Anglerfish to a fierce looking Kodiak Bear.

The crews of the tanks were in good spirits and for good reason, they had made it to the Semi-finals for the 2nd year in a row, completely and utterly routing Maple High School in the Quarter-Finals two months ago.

Still, this year they were facing in the semi-finals Kuromorimine Girls High School. However this time around, the overall commander of the Ooarai Sensha-dou team Miho Nishizumi knew that Kuromorimine and drastically changed its lineup just because they were facing Ooarai, because this time around instead of the normal mix of German Late War Heavy Tanks and Tank Destroyers, they were fielding mainly medium tanks -granted still late war ones- but it was clear they had learned that big unwieldy tanks plus unorthodoxed tactics and strategies equaled trouble. Thus they were fielding only one Tiger I, two Panther IIs, six Panzer V Ausf. Gs, one Jagdpanther, four Jagdpanzer IV/70s, and a single Panzer II Ausf. L. That was an extremely different lineup from what Kuromorimine usually brought which meant that while her mother didn't like the idea of Miho developing her own style, she probably was secretly impressed by how skilled Miho's Tankery team was and just how effective her own style was even if it was unorthodoxed and completely counter to the Nishizumi Style.

"Alligator Team, how are you doing?" Miho asked, referring to the P.26/40 Italian 'Fast' Heavy Tank, it was a new addition and was armed with a lethal 7.5cm/L34 main gun and two Breda 8mm machine guns. The armor wasn't the greatest but it was still respectable. Plus it was decently quick with a top speed of 26 miles per hour on the road and 16 miles per hour off road.

" _Not bad commander! The gearing is a little stiff, but nothing we can't handle!"_ The commander of the P.26/40, a first year by the name of Isa Sayo said.

"Understood, let me know if anything breaks." Miho said over the radio.

" _No problem ma'am!"_ Sayo replied.

Miho then decided to check on the 2nd new addition. "Bear Team, how are you doing over there?" She asked.

" _Surprisingly well, commander, considering how cold it is! The tank also seems happy, the cold isn't getting to it. Although, I am thankful that Yukari told us to each bring at least one thermos filled with either Hot Chocolate, Hot Tea, Coffee, or hot Apple Cider; because it's freaking freezing out here."_ The commander of Bear Team, a third year by the name of Tsuga Ino reported crisply.

"Tell me about it, Tsuga. I understand you there." Miho replied, she fully understood what it was like to be in weather like this without a heavy coat. "Mallard, how's the new Panzer treating you?" she asked.

" _Not bad commander, still getting used to the fact that I have Pazomi in the turret with me but the Valentine has the same amount of armor as the B1 Bis so there's that, the fact we actually have a decent armament now doesn't hurt, my biggest complaint is that it's a little cramped inside the turret, but we will manage."_ Sodoko said, although there was a sense of nostalgia in her voice as if she missed the B1 Bis. Which was understandable, after their win against University Strengthened Team where they succeeded in saving the school from being closed. There had been a large influx of new students and funds, but while the financial situation of Ooarai Girls High School had been improving, it still wasn't the greatest. They had found two more tanks just lying around: the P.26/40 and the KV-85, but they had sold the B1 Bis and that had gotten them enough money to purchase the Valentine Mk X Infantry Tank, which had the same amount of armor as the B1 Bis had but it possessed a fair amount more firepower in the form of a 6-pound gun.

Inside the Panzer IV, it was fairly cold and nippy but that was something the crew, particularly the loader of the machine, Yukari Akiyama, were used too. Still, it was pretty cold and thus she was wearing a heavy coat to help keep herself warm. Still, something about today felt off, she had noted that there had been several heavy crates with a heavy duty padlock on them in the ammunition depot that had been set up when she had gone to retrieve Sensha-dou Regulation AP and HE shells. More to the point, they had been marked as containing _live_ ammunition of the High-explosive anti-tank, High-explosive, Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot, Armor-piercing, canister, and smoke variety. Plus there were several crates had also been marked in that they contained can upon can of 7.92x57mm Mauser, .30-06, 7.62x54mmR, 7.7x58mm Arisaka, 7.7x56mmR, 6.5x50mmSR caliber machine gun ammunition, plus it was steel-cored AP, tracers, and steel-cored API rounds. She couldn't figure out why there was live ammunition being stocked up, particularly for the _Sensha-dou tanks_.

"Miporin! You're gonna want to listen to this!" Saori, the radio operator of Anglerfish Team shouted.

"Mako stop the tank!" Miho ordered sharply.

Saori then turned the volume up on her phone up to max, allowing for all the occupants in the Pz. IV Ausf. H to hear it. " _For those listeners who are just now joining us. We have breaking news coming out of the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan. The Chinese have entered the war in Korea and launched a devastating attack on both the JMSDF and the USN just four hours ago. The Chinese, using a combination of DF-21D Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles, Air Strikes from carriers, and according to what information we have received, a brilliantly executed Cyber warfare attack, have sunk the JS_ Kaga _, JS_ Ise _, JS_ Hyuga _, USS_ Bonhomme Richard _, and USS_ Ronald Reagan _. Reports also indicate that the JS_ Izumo _was also hit and heavily damaged and is now currently limping back to port. While we don't know at the moment how this will affect the war, analysts are already saying that the with the sudden removal of Carrier-based Air Support, the forces currently fighting in Korea will likely be forced to abandon Seoul to the North Koreans who already control roughly 75 percent of the city. Worse, the loss of these valuable ships will also leave what's left of JMSDF and USN as well as the entirety of the ROKN in the area of Japan at the near complete mercy of the Chinese Navy. We will update you on the situation as we get more information."_ The reporter said, explaining a sudden and unexpected turn of events in what some were already calling the 2nd Korean War, which had started five months ago when a massive North Korean Artillery barrage rolled across the DMZ and was then followed by a massive rush of North Korean Pokpung-ho and Chonma-ho MBTs with BMP-1s, BTR-70s, BTR-80As, and M-2010s right behind them, they North Koreans advanced quickly and efficiently using simply sheer brute force and brutal tactics, the fact that they had support in the form of Mi-24Ds, Il-28s, H-5s, Su-7s, A-5s, Su-25s, MIG-23s, MIG-21s, and F-7s didn't help. Within two and half weeks they were fighting in close-quarters combat in downtown Seoul where the fighting has begun to even out.

Still, now that China has entered the war on the side of the North Koreans and that most of the American and Japanese Surface units have been destroyed, with all but one of Japan's Helicopter Destroyers sunk, an American Amphibious Assault Ship sunk, and most incredibly an American Supercarrier sunk. The Americans and South Koreans fighting in Seoul and elsewhere across South Korea were now at the mercy of the largest navy in the world in terms of major surface combatants.

"Saori, keep me updated. Mako, drive on!" Miho said.

Saori nodded and at the sametime the Pz. IV lurched into motion. " _What was that about Commander? You suddenly stopped."_ Anzu asked over the radio.

"Anzu, you're not going to believe this. But the Chinese have entered the war in Korea. According to a breaking news alert that Saori received, China has sunk three of Japan's four Helicopter Destroyers, an American Amphibious Assault Ship, and an American Supercarrier. Which means that the forces fighting in Korea have lost a lot of their theater support, plus the People's Liberation Army Navy is likely moving ships into position to support the North Korean ground forces." Miho explained.

" _Oh, I see."_ Anzu replied, stunned.

* * *

We meet in the Victory Park, quite by accident. He's there to give thanks, because he owes much to the Tank Maidens. He seems happy to give an interview.

"I don't remember much before the landings started. The news broadcast seemed unimportant."

He looks off into the distance, like what he recalls is happening just across the way.

"When the planes flew overhead, most of us in the crowd thought that is was JSDF planes on alert. Keeping an eye on what was almost a national sport. At least, until men and machines started falling out of them."

* * *

 _Decmeber 20, 2025_

 _In the air heading toward Niigata Prefecture_

Flying at an altitude of 4,572 meters and steadily descending to an altitude of 2,000 meters, a large formation of Xian H-20s rumbled across the sky. These aircraft were carrying the proud men and women of the 15th Airborne Corps A grand total of 50,000 fighting men and women plus their equipment. Four 12,500 strong divisions, plus all of their equipment.

This was more than enough firepower to tie down the entirety of the JGSDF and a large amount of the JASDF. Of course, the equipment that they were bringing was top notch, with ZBD-03s, PLL-05s, ZTD-03s, PGZ-95s, and other pieces of equipment. Best of all, the infantry and vehicle crews could be dropped from the air in their vehicles.

However inside one of the ZTD-03 Light Tanks was Lieutenant Fang An, a thirty-two year old man from Shanghai. He had short black hair and eyes as remorseless as a shark. This was his first combat action, the hatches of his tank were open, but he was ready to close them at a moment's notice. He would be able to show the Capitalist puppets of Japan who were superior in tank-on-tank combat. His tank was easily a match for the JGSDF's Type 74 and could kill Type 90s and Type 10s from the side with it's powerful 105mm rifled gun.

The ZTD-03's chassis was eight meters long, three point six meters wide, and two point three-four meters tall. It weighed in at twelve tons and had a crew of three. But it's armor was nothing to write home about, but it could have ERA and Applique armor packages applied, which his tank was equipped with.

" _Begin final preparations, we are approaching the drop point."_ The voice of the platoon leader called out over the radio in sharp crisp Chinese. That was their cue, Fang reached up and closed the commander's hatch and locked it in place with a sharp _click_.

He then peered through the panoramic commander's hatch, giving him unparalleled vision while he was inside his tank. It was nearly as good as being unbuttoned, key word being nearly. Having the hatch closed meant that it was a little harder to hear incoming threats like artillery, jets, and on occasion gunships.

Five minutes later, a dull red illumination filled the cargo compartment. The get ready light, soon the great campaign to take Japan would begin with a powerful aerial invasion in the most unexpected location, the Niigata Prefecture of Japan. The back ramp of the massive Chinese Strategic Lifter opened. A few moment's later a bright green light filled the cargo bay. The door opened and then with a sharp bang a drogue chute deployed and with sharp force yanked the ZTD right out the back of the Airlifter, several seconds later another tank came out the back, followed by another, then another, and finally the fifth tank came out the back of the Airlifter. All dropping gracefully from the sky slung beneath a trio of red parachutes.

As they fell, Fang noted that there wasn't a single piece of AA fire coming up to meet them. Which meant they had caught the Japanese _completely_ by surprise. Which meant that while they were scrambling to put together a response, that gave them adequate time to secure as much ground as possible so the main invasion force coming in multiple An-225s could land. The Invasion Force was composed of the entirety of the 38th Army, with elements from the 54th and 65th Armies of the Central Theater of Operations. This would be a glorious campaign, one that would show to the world that China wasn't weak, they instead had massive force projection capabilities now, one that while it wouldn't match the capabilities of the United States of America, it would be more than enough to retake Chinese land and to conquer new ones.

Fang glanced at the altimeter and noted that they were just forty meters off the ground. "Brace for impact with the ground." He growled.

Everyone in the tank grabbed their respective handholds. With a thundering, jarring, _thud_ the ZTD-03 hit the ground. "Driver, advance! Let's figure out where we landed." Fang ordered. A few moments later. the 402 horsepower engine came to life, growling like some hungry predator, the tank lurching into motion; the engine noise increasing dramatically in concert.

It didn't take long for Fang to collect the rest of his Platoon, four other ZTD-03s, each with a powerful 105mm main gun, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm commander's cupola mounted machine gun. Sometime after that he managed to track down the rest of his company, ten more ZTD-03s all were heavily armed and ready to rip. These tanks were ready to utterly decimate anything they came across, or barring that, run away in case they ran into heavy enemy armor.

"Let's meet up with the nine IFVs we are supposed to be protecting." Fang ordered and then moments later. Fifteen tank engines came howling to life, they roared forward. But very quickly Fang noticed that they weren't where they were supposed to be, which meant either that the H-20 driver that had flown them needed to get his eyes checked because the bastard had misjudged the wind or they had just had bad luck and got scattered by the winds because they had shifted during the drop. At least their plane hadn't been forced to do evasive maneuvers because of AA fire, then it might have gotten ugly.

* * *

 _December 20th, 2025_

 _Main Kuromorimine Column, Niigata Prefecture_

Maho Nishizumi, heir to the Nishizumi style and Kuromorimine Girls High School; not to mention, the older sister of Miho Nishizumi, her adversary in this match, just that fact alone made her worried. Mainly because their Hetzer could go trolling again, which would likely end with the thing earning an HE-round to the face from Ritaiko's Jagdpanther as payback for getting tracked, _twice_ , by the damn thing.

Suddenly the radio crackled. " _Kuso! This is Tank 10! We've thrown a track! Christ that's the third time this week!"_ Geshiko, the commander of the Panther driving in the tenth slot in their formation suddenly called out as the tank lurched violently out of formation from having suddenly lost a track.

 _Not going to make the same mistake twice._ Maho thought as she gave the order for all of the tanks to come to a halt, so that way they didn't wind up spreading out and thus weakening them as a group and making them more vulnerable. Though she was grateful that they had decided to go light, otherwise most of their heavy vehicles likely wouldn't have started in this biting cold weather.

Still, something about today felt off, she couldn't tell what it was though as they were in a forest and couldn't see the night sky because of the canopy. The thundering roar of a bunch of low flying jet aircraft was one those things that certainly helped to add to those feelings of unease. However she didn't know it, but those fears about something not being right, were completely accurate.

" _Kommandant! We got our track back up! Ready to, CONTACTS! CONTACTS! FOUR O'CLOCK!_ " Geshiko said over the radio, before suddenly shouting as several streams of hot green tracers streaked in. The rounds hammered hard into the hulls of the Tiger, Panther IIs, the Panthers, the Jagdpanther, and the Jagdpanzer IVs. But, they also caught the gunner and loader: Oe Yoka and Miura Kayo as well as Geshiko out in the open. The results were horrific, two rounds caught Oe, they ripped her head and right shoulder completely off, pulping them in an instant and causing bright red blood to spray violently and just about everywhere, darkening the snow, adding a splatter 'paint job' to the side of the Panther she normally rode in, and splashing onto the other two crew members who were outside of the tank.

Geshiko and Miura began screaming, seconds later Geshiko's screaming turned from one of horror to one of downright agony as a shell tore the entirety of her left leg off. She fell face down into snow shrieking in agony and clutching what was left of her left leg in an attempt to stem the loss of blood, which fortunately wasn't much, the sheer brute force of the round must have lacerated and pinched the veins, the artery, and capillaries that the thing had torn open with its passage. But the pain was still tremendous.

Miura began to try and drag Geshiko so they could get on the other side of the tank and to relative safety. But that didn't happen as two maybe three rounds caught her in the upper torso and utterly pulped it. Moments later their was a high-pitched scream with a streak of fire and smoke and something slammed into the side of Tank 10 and the whole Panther erupted like a fiery volcano. Seconds later a cataclysmic explosion tore the turret off the tank and tossed it like it had been thrown by an angry god. The burning flaming turret landed some six meters away from the destroyed Panther. More streams of tracers slashed in with a lot of anger behind them.

"BUTTON UP! GET INSIDE!" Maho yelled, both into the radio, and the open air. How could someone do that? Open fire on a Tankery Team, especially defenseless students who weren't even in a tank. The League, and especially the parents would be on the warpath. It couldn't be Miho. There wasn't a hateful bone in her nearest kilometer. She respects Tankery too much to do such a thing. Hearing the fire slacken, Maho made a decision. "All students, remain inside. I will take a look." Ignoring Erika's almost certainly tearful pleas to the contrary, Maho popped the hatch, and grabbed binoculars. To call her reaction a surprise would be like calling a Maus a light tank. Maho quickly got over her shock and brought her binoculars to her eyes and her jaw promptly dropped at what she saw.

Nine ZBD-03 IFVs were advancing on them, firing their 30mm Autocannons and coaxially mounted machine guns as they did so. However around the IFVs was also advancing was a bunch of infantry at least a full company of men, they were armed with various weapons, including what looked like to be rocket launchers. Maho paled, each IFV but they had a lethal looking missile as well on a rail next to the autocannon, except for the leader, it's missile was gone. _We need to get rid of them, or scare them off._ She thought.

"ALL TANKS TRAVERSE! TRAVERSE! RIGHT STICK! LOAD HE AND FIRE AT WILL!" Maho screamed, her composure having simply shattered under this withering barrage of _live ammunition_ that had just torn apart three of her tankers as well as an ATGM that had claimed the lives of two others, not to mention utterly obliterating a Panther Tank.

The thirteen remaining tanks rotated almost as one and then formed into a V shape and then opened fire. A thundering barrage of Sensha-dou regulation High-Explosive shells roared away from the barrels of the German Panzers and slammed into the Chinese formation with devastating effect. Enormous plumes of snow and dirt were hurled skyward, the thundering crash of multiple shells exploding rolled over the group of Panzers. As the dust, dirt, snow, and smoke began to settle it revealed something incredible. Not a whole lot of the figures that had been outside of the IFVs were still moving, plus one of the shells from the looks of it had been guided by vengeance and had utterly decimated one of the hostile IFVs, the one that had fired its missile, that machine was burning quite happily.

Seeing that sight made Maho very happy, which was almost equalled by disturbance. She toggled her throat mic. "All tanks, target those IFVs and fire on my command. Load HE." She ordered coldly, she wasn't going to show them any mercy at _all_ , because they hadn't shown Geshiko's crew any mercy so why should she show any?

"UTE!" Maho snapped several moments later. A thundering salvo of thirteen HE shells erupted from as many barrels. It seemed like the IFVs some 900 meters down range simply ceased to exist. They exploded into brilliant fireballs, their turrets being hurled skyward as the ammunition and fuel simply exploded, flames simply engulfing what remained. Hot aluminum shrapnel slashed out cutting down any infantry who was still standing as effortlessly as a razor sharp guillotine blade cutting through a man's neck.

Watching all of this, Maho contemplated what this meant. _How are there vehicles like these on the field, with crews willing to kill? Something is wrong._ Quickly keying in to the frequency reserved for emergencies, Maho declared an all stop, casualties on the field. While directing those with the requisite knowledge to begin first aid, she quickly ran through what happened. The judges were, dubious.

" _YOU_ FIRED _ON SOMEONE, WITHOUT CHECKING IDENTIFICATION?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR THE LEAGUE?!"_

"Forgive me, but I believed returning fire to be the best course of action after witnessing four fellow students killed by gunfire, another critically injured, and one of the tanks under my command _obliterated_. Not simply knocked out, mind you. It has been completely destroyed." Maho retorted, insinuation flowing freely. "If you would kindly vector an aircraft to our position, we have wounded. We have begun first aid measures. And please, warn the other team as to what has transpired. Ooarai may also be in danger."

Before long, the drone of a twin engine aircraft soon grew in volume. Looking to the skies, Maho, and the others, now more vigilant, spotted the referee's aircraft. It came close, flew several passes, then began to turn away. Maho received a call over the radio. " _Paramedics are enroute via helicopter now. ETA 8 minutes."_ "Thank you. They've managed to staunch the bleeding somewhat." The relief was paramount in Maho's voice. Looking back towards the wreckage of the assailants, Maho's concern grew further. ' _The JSDF would never fire on us, no matter what. Furthermore, those aren't Japanese vehicles. Who were they?'_ Shaking off her melancholy, Maho refocused on the reality of her situation. Four people had died, with a fifth in critical condition. She needed to be strong, for her sister, and her comrades.

Realizing that they had to contact Ooarai, Maho got on the radio. "Tank 15, are you with us?" Maho asked, referring to the Luchs of the group, which at the moment was off scouting, the crew of that tank always got some good-natured ribbing simply because they crewed the 'Cutest Tank in the world.' It was also one of the faster tanks of the group, as well as the lightest.

" _Ja, Kommandant, we are! You got orders for us?"_ The commander of the Luchs, a young second year by the name of Himi Kao asked in response.

"Affirmative, I want you to find Ooarai's Tankery Team and alert them of the situation. I don't care if you have to approach them completely unbuttoned with a large white flag flying from the commander's hatch, you just find them and tell them." Maho ordered.

" _Ja, Kommandant! Consider it done! But, uh, Kommandant. We saw a medical helicopter flying towards your position at high speed a few minutes ago, is everything alright?"_ Himi asked nervously.

Maho quickly explained what had happened, her voice shaking slightly as she did so. She realized that the encounter with those IFVs had severely rattled her, then again it had been the first time someone had been shooting at her with live ammunition. It had been terrifying, hearing those rounds bounce off the hull and turret, knowing that if they had penetrated the results wouldn't have been pretty. Seeing three tankers mercilessly cut down in the open and watching an ATGM utterly destroy a tank and the two crew members inside of it. Right now it looked like Geshiko would probably survive, but her school year and season were most certainly _over_ , not to mention the loss of her ability to walk unaided. The trauma from taking a hit from a 30mm AP round was simply horrific.

She sat down heavily in the commander's chair of her Tiger I and began to contemplate what she should do next. But even as the medical helicopter came in for a landing, Maho had a feeling that this first encounter was just beginning.

* * *

 _Ooarai Girls High School Main Column_

" _Contact, two o'clock! Looks like Kuromominie's Luchs! That's strange, it's coming at us with it's crew unbuttoned."_ Nekota, the commander/radio operator of Anteater Team announced.

Miho grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked in the direction that Nekota had indicated. Sure enough, there was a Kuromominie's Panzer II Ausf. L coming toward them at a relatively slow speed, the crew completely unbuttoned. The fact there was a white flag visible, meant that something was very wrong.

"All tanks halt! Do not fire!" Miho ordered sharply. Something here wasn't right, Maho wouldn't send their only scout to find them and then to approach them with it's crew completely unbuttoned. Complete with a white flag, this whole thing was setting alarm bells off inside Miho's head and not the fact that this could be a trick. Mainly because that she _knew_ that using a trick like this would go against everything the Nishizumi Style stood for.

The column came to a sharp halt. Miho noted that even though she had given orders to not fire, Anteater was tracking the thing with it's turret as it approached, obviously ready to knock the tank out if it tried anything funny. The small Panzer's fifty millimeter cannon could penetrate the frontal armor of most of Ooarai's Panzers, but only at ranges less than 500 meters.

So to say that Miho was surprised when the Panzer came to a stop only some thirty meters away and then the commander dismounted was understating the situation _immensely_. So much so that it caused Miho to blink in surprise, she now _knew_ in her gut that something was just plain _wrong_. She stood up and dismounted from her Panzer IV herself.

"Nishizumi-dono! Where are you going?" Yukari called out after her. Before she fully pulled herself out of the commander's cupola she answered. "Something's not right here, Yukari. I am going to find out what that is."

She then pulled herself out of the Panzer and dismounted herself. She strode over to the Panzer II Ausf. L Luchs commander, who, for her part did look a little cold. "Commander Nishizumi, I assume?" She asked tersely.

"Yes?" Miho answered, not entirely sure what this was about.

"I am Himi Kao, commander of the Panzer II Ausf. L behind me. Something has happened. Kommandant Nishizumi," she paused before an amused look came across her features for but just a few seconds before it passed, suddenly replaced with hard stoicism. "About twenty minutes ago, the main Kuromorimine Column was engaged by nine Chinese ZBD-03 Airborne Infantry Fighting Vehicles as well as Infantry. They killed four crew members and critically wounded a fifth, and destroyed a Panther Tank with an ATGM. We're not sure what's going on, but whatever it is, it can't be good." Himi said.

* * *

 _Fifteen hundred meters away from the Ooarai Main Force_

In a treeline a mere fifteen hundred meters away from where the Panzers that Ooarai were fielding sat. Fifteen ZTD-03s approached, ready to engage anything they saw.

Lieutenant Fang growled as he got report from his radio operator/gunner that they had lost all contact with the IFVs they were supposed to protect. According to their last report, they had run into tanks of unknown type and had engaged. Just before they had lost all contact, he had received a partial transmission that had said " _Oh fuck, are those fucking Panzer V Pan-"_ before being cut off amidst a large explosion.

" _Commander, contacts!"_ Someone called, thinking quickly Fang ordered all tanks to a halt. He then peered through his commander's viewport and couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a mixture of World War II era Tanks of varying types, mostly mediums but their was what appeared to be a couple of heavy tanks, an assault gun, and even a pair of light tanks.

However, partially due to the weather and the fact that both the two commanders that had dismounted were pretty close to the Luchs which meant their shapes on Thermal somewhat blurred together, Fang couldn't see them. Still, he had a feeling that those were Japanese Sensha-dou tanks, which meant school children. But before he could bark out orders, there was a thundering _boom_ as one of his platoon commanders opened fire. The remaining four tanks in that platoon then promptly opened fire as well. Shells landed amongst the tanks which promptly began to button up and rotate toward them, except for one of the tanks.

It had been hit by what appeared to be a HEAT round and it had blown the entire backend of the tank apart in a hellish explosion, whatever the thing _had_ been, Fang just couldn't identify it, the tank had been that badly mangled, pieces of it were all over the place. It's trashed hulk was now completely wreathed in flames and thick black smoke was drifting skyward, marking the grave of the machine.

"3rd platoon, cease your bombardment goddamnit! I didn't give any orders to open fire!" Fang snarled.

" _But sir! Those are enemy tanks!"_ The platoon commander shot back.

"NO! YOU ASSHOLE! THOSE ARE JAPANESE _SENSHA-DOU TANKS!_ THEY ARE CREWED BY SCHOOL CHILDREN!" Fang roared angrily, even as muzzle flashes erupted from the barrels of the fifteen tanks that one of his platoons had opened fire on.

As Fang watched, three ZTD-03s in third platoon were hit within a matter of seconds each other. Two tanks had their ammunition explode almost instantly which threw the turrets of those machines right off the hulls and to the ground while the third one began to brew up, the crew of the third ZTD managed to bailout before the tank became an inferno but he could tell that everyone in that crew was injured in someway.

Those school tank crews were good, _really_ good. Considering that they had managed to hit three tanks without thermal imaging or night vision just by back-tracking muzzle flashes at night. In response the other remaining two tanks fired as Fang watched the two glowing tracers through his scope. They were both spike rounds judging by the velocity, both of the rounds to his surprise actually _bounced_ , one hit the turret cheeks of what appeared to be a IS-1, maybe a KV-85 and the other hit what appeared to be a Tiger Tank in the turret cheeks as well. Fang grimaced, the ring from those rounds bouncing must have been incredible inside the fighting compartments.

The fifteen tanks fired again, this time they had a little less success, but they still scored hits. As he watched several rounds impaled a ZTD-03, it's engine erupted into flames, both tracks were blown off, and the main gun barrel got ripped in half, the crew promptly bailed out and ran for another tank that hadn't fired. The other tank took several grazes and one direct hit which ripped the turret apart.

Fang told himself right then and there _if_ the commander of 3rd Platoon had survived, he would shoot the fucking bastard himself. At least, from the looks of it, none of the School Panzers had been hit, apart from the two bounces he had seen, and of course that one tank that had become an inferno. He actually pitied the ears of the crewmembers of those tanks, mainly because tanking a bounce from a regulation round was one thing but taking a bounce from a live round was another thing entirely.

"All tanks pull back, let's get out of here. Also someone tell me if the commander of 3rd Platoon survived. I want to execute the fucking bastard myself." Fang growled. Moments later his tank lurched into reverse and sped away from the edge of the treeline, heading deeper into the trees.

Several minutes later, Fang ordered the platoon to halt and noticed that yes, the commander's vehicle for third platoon had survived. It's turret had been wrecked but it was still movable. Still Fang was pissed, his company was down five tanks, with three destroyed, one immobilized and having been forced to abandon it, and one combat ineffective. He dismounted from his tank and stormed over to that combat-ineffective ZTD, he found to his pleasure that the commander of third platoon had indeed survived, albeit a little battered from when his ZTD had been hit, but not that Fang minded.

He dragged the man out of the tank dropped him onto the snow and pulled his QSZ-92G handgun out of it's holster, racked the slide chambering a 5.8x21mm round, disengaging the safety and then firing the weapon once into the back of the man's head, the powerful handgun round blew the man's brains out. "LET THIS SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL OF YOU. DON'T ENGAGE ANY FORMATION OF VEHICLES WE SEE WITHOUT MY DIRECT ORDERS!" Fang bellowed angrily, mainly because just of one man's foolish actions his company was down a third of its tanks not to mention committing a war crime and making it clear that he wouldn't take such insordbourination again.

* * *

 _Back at the Ooarai_ _main column_

It was to put it simply, hell back at the Ooarai column. Even as Miho slowly crawled out from under the Panzer II Luchs she could tell that whoever had engaged them had done so with live ammunition. Mainly because the sound from the incoming had been incredible, sounding totally different from even the 128mm that the Jagdtiger and Maus mounted when they fired at you.

The smell of burnt cordite, diesel fuel, and another far more horrible smell, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Miho looked for the source of that horrible smell and quickly found it. The Type 89B I-Go, Duck Team's tank had been hit and had simply been turned into a funeral pyre. No one had managed to bail out of the Type 89B I-Go in time before the thing had been turned into an inferno, hell it was nearly _unrecognizable_ , having been blown to utter _bits_ , pieces of the tank were strewn all over the place. With a sudden cataclysmic _boom_ , the ammunition cooked off and lifted the turret right off the tank, further tearing apart it's hull. The trashed turret came to rest some four meters away from the rest of the tank.

Miho sank to her knees and started crying, several of her teammates/classmates were dead and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. How could she call herself a tank commander if she couldn't even protect those under her command?

She felt someone put an arm across her shoulder. "Come on, Miss Nishizumi; we've got to get out of here. They could return." Yukari whispered into her ear, pulling at her. Trying to get her to stand up, but Miho didn't want to leave. She had failed as a commander. Not that it stopped Yukari from trying to get her to stand up, she kept on pulling.

"I don't want to." Miho muttered through her tears.

"We have to! Those tanks must have had thermal imaging and night vision equipment to land a bunch of near misses, one direct hit, and two glancing hits!" Yukari said as she tried to heave Miho to her feet.

"Yukari-san, let me try." Someone said, it sounded like Piyotan.

"Alright, Piyotan. Give it a try." Yukari said letting go of Miho and taking a few steps back. Miho felt a hand grab her arm and with a grunt, she was lifted to her feet. "Come on commander, we need you to be strong for us. Because you're the glue that holds us together." Piyotan whispered into her ear.

"What sort of commander can't even protect her subordinates! How could I have let this happen?" Miho whimpered in response.

"It was an ambush, it happens. I doubt that even if you hadn't been talking with that Luchs commander that you would have been able to prevent the loss of Duck Team. Not that it says anything bad about your capabilities as a commander. You did manage to beat a University Team, who were using Pershing's, a Centurion, a couple of Chaffees, a T28 Super Heavy Tank, and a Karl Mortar; with a scratch team that had no practice before hand working together, plus it was an annihilation match. If anything it speaks wonders about your ability as a commander." Piyotan said. "Miho, we need you now. We need you to lead us. You'll keep us safe. I know it."

"She's right, Commander. You'll get us to safety, no matter what." Yukari agreed.

"But, how? I've already failed in keeping everyone safe. How can I trust myself to get everyone else to safety when four people have already died and we didn't even fire a shot to try and prevent it?" Miho whispered her voice incredibly weak as she was lead to the Panzer IV Ausf. H.

"Because you _are_ strong, Commander. You would risk yourself for your teammates. For us." Piyotan whispered to her. "You're the strongest of all of us."

Miho simply gazed at the burning Type 89B as she contemplated the words of both Piyotan and Yukari. They both had brought up excellent points, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that while she was an incredibly talented Tank Commander, she had failed in protecting teammates from hostile fire and not of the sort from Sensha-dou regulation rounds either. It was so fast, but more than that, it had been so cold, so heartless. One moment the crew had been alive and smiling and the next, they were burning to death inside their tank.

There were some truly terrible ways to die on this world. Drowning in a tank was one, burning to death inside a tank was another. As with both cases one was often helpless because tanks could brew up into an inferno frighteningly fast, and with the other, when the tank flooded, the pressure difference meant that one had to wait till the compartment filled completely with water, which could take a distressingly long time. All the while one could be banging on the hatches trying frantically to open them, wasting precious air in a panic.

Miho shakily climbed onto the Panzer IV Ausf. H, pulled herself into the commander's cupola, and sat down heavily in the commander's seat. "S-s-saori, switch the radio frequency to the emergency freq. We need to contact Kuromorimine and figure out our plan of action." Miho said stuttering with seemingly every other word.

"Hai!" Saori replied crisply before beginning to fiddle with the radio. This was terrifying, Miho just wanted out of here. _We have to get to high ground so we can see better, otherwise we are helpless._ Miho thought grimly. It was simple fact, they needed to get to higher ground.

"Got it Mipiron!" Saori called out, even as the radio crackled to life. "This is Nishizumi Miho, commander of the Ooarai Academy Tankery Team, declaring an emergency. We have been attacked by vehicles not part of the Tankery League, causing fatalities. To repeat, we have had an incident with non-League forces, resulting in fatalities. Please advise." Choking back tears, Miho awaited a reply.

" _Commander Nishizumi, we copy your declaration of emergency. We are vectoring an observation aircraft towards you, and will send medical services as soon as possible. Currently, medical services are assisting Kuromorimine, but we are getting reports of large aircraft passing by, deploying airborne troops and equipment across the Niigata Prefecture. We are evacuating the viewing grounds now. It may become impossible to send medical services to you."_ Match control replied.

"Negative on the medical services. We don't need doctors here, but a priest." Miho replied, barely able to keep her composure.

" _...Would you like us to pass a message to your family on the field?"_ The voice inquired.

"Hai." Miho replied weakly.

" _Rōgā."_ Match Control replied quickly. "Go ahead."

"Maho. We were also attacked. I and my crew are okay. But we lost some as well. I need to see you." Miho stuttered out, trying to maintain her composure, but it seemed that with every passing minute it was becoming hard and harder to do so. "Please, onee-chan. Please." Now, she didn't even try to hold back the tears. They flowed freely down her cheeks, as her grief and sorrow for Noriko Isobe, Taeko Kondou, Shinobu Kawanishi, and Akebi Sasaki simply become too much for her to hold back. Names that would be seared into her mind for the rest of her life because of her failure to do anything to save them.

After what seemed like an eternity a very familiar and welcome voice came over the airwaves.

" _Miho. It's okay. I agree, we need to meet up. Grid number F6. Climb the mountain ahead of you. And please, take care, Miho."_ Maho said, comfortingly.

"Rōgā." Miho replied tersely, still weeping slightly.

"Mako, please drive us over to grid number F6, all Panzers follow us." Miho ordered over the radio, her voice still somewhat shaky. With a jerk the tank rumbled into motion, Miho watched solemnly as the still burning remains of Duck Team's Type 89B I-Go began to recede behind them. She didn't even notice the Panzer Luchs getting in line with her Panzer formation and following like a loyal puppy until the Panzer IV crested a hill and began to go down the other side, shielding the Type-89's corpse from view.

The tanks continued rumbling along. Every now and again a fighter jet would roar over the battlefield. The thunder of artillery was beginning to resound in the background. War had arrived in Japan, the Chinese were landing in force, plus it was likely that they were going to commit even more forces to the Korean Peninsula, now that their intentions were clear. That would allow the North Koreans to launch their own invasion of Japan.

 _Is it going to end, with my Team desperately fighting off a bunch of enemy infantry and MBTs? As much as I hate to think about it, infantry we can take care of, but MBTs we have no chance of penetrating unless we get behind them and hit them in the exhaust. I don't want to fight at all._ Miho thought bitterly as the tank began to rumble up a steep slope. She looked up and saw that they were beginning to rumble up a hill. She glanced at the map and saw that it was the hill where Maho promised to meet them.

It didn't take too long for the machines to reach to the top. "Let's dig in. Get some defensive works going, I want everyone hull down." Miho ordered, regaining some of the confidence that she had lost.

"Maho, we are at the top of the hill. We're waiting on you." Miho said.

" _Rōgā, we will be there in probably two hours, we had another encounter with enemy vehicles. This time it was ten ZTD-03s, we destroyed four for sure and landed hits on three others. But they managed to in return to blow off the tracks of my Tiger, Erika's Panther II, Rikato's Jagdpanther, and two of the Jagdpanzer IVs. No more damage was sustained, however. It was strange, almost as if the enemy commander recognized we were Sensha-dou tanks and ordered immobilization shots instead of kill shots."_ Maho reported tersely.

"Is anyone hurt?" Miho cried, a weight settling into her stomach.

" _Negative. They disabled our vehicles, then moved away."_ Maho replied crisply and Miho sighed a long and heavy sigh of relief at hearing those words.

Some thirty minutes later though, with a roar like thunder, two jets screamed overhead. They quickly snapped around as if doing another pass. "Yukari what are those?!" Miho asked nervously as the two jets roared overhead. There was a distinctive red and yellow emblem on them.

Yukari's answer surprised them all. "I don't know, they were moving too fast! But judging by the emblem, those were most certainly People's Liberation Army Air Force planes!" Yukari replied quickly.

 _They most certainly saw us._ Miho thought as she remembered the planes and their emblem. "Everyone prepare for enemy attack." Miho ordered sharply, realizing that they could come under attack.

As it turns out they didn't have long to wait. " _Anglerfish Team, Leopon here! We've got movement! Distance is approximately 5000 meters. It appears to be Chinese Tanks! Christ, there must be at least ten ZTD-03s, plus five more tanks leading the formation, though I can't identify them, plus we got a bunch of tracked vehicles coming in behind them."_ Nakajima said sharply.

"Yukari!" Miho barked, knowing that she was the best thing they had when it came to figuring out tanks and other vehicles.

"Hai!" Yukari replied, undoing her hatch and grabbing a set of binoculars. As she swept her eyes over the enemy force approaching her heart sank into gut. "Bad news Nishizumi-dono. There are approximately ten ZTD-03s, fifteen ZBD-03Bs, and five ZTZ-59Gs inbound." Yukari said her voice barely a whisper.

 _Not again. I don't want to lose anyone again._ Miho needed options. "Yukari, is there any way we can defeat them? I know we won't be able to destroy them" Not that she wanted to. She just wanted everyone safe.

"Just one Nishizumi-dono. If we can hit their tracks and then their turret rings or main guns we might be able to go for a mission-kill. But without live rounds that's going to be tough. In fact, with Sensha-dou regulation rounds, it's just about impossible. But, even our Sensha-dou AP and HE rounds will have no problems dealing with the enemy light tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. But I am worried about what they might have for infantry weapons." Yukari replied sounding worried and for good reason, they were up against no less than _five_ Main Battle Tanks which also had ten Light Tanks supporting plus fifteen Infantry Fighting Vehicles each with seven passengers in them.

Which meant that besides the vehicles they would also have to deal with one hundred and five men, which equaled to almost a full company of infantry. The ZBD-03s stopped and disgorged their loads of infantrymen, each armed with either an Assault Rifle, a DMR, an LMG, or, worst of all, an RPG. Combined with the large number of tanks that they had to deal with, they were likely in trouble.

"All tanks, target the light tanks and IFVs first. Open fire on my command." Miho ordered as the tanks began to rumble up the hill, with the infantry following behind them. Steeling herself for what she knew she was ordering, what she was telling her friends to do, Miho took a deep breath. "Commence bombardment!" Miho shouted.

The ground erupted as multiple guns of varying calibers opened fire, lobbing shells down range. Plumes of snow and earth erupted skyward as shells landed among their targets. Several machines were hit in the first salvo and promptly erupted into plumes of fire and smoke, coming to a dead halt in an instant. The enemy vehicles returned fire, which was largely ineffective, the enemy had to be just as scared as she was. The guns of Ooarai's tanks finished reloading and fired again, more plumes of dirt and snow were churned up by the high-explosive shells. More enemy vehicles were hit.

" _Commander! We've succeeded in tracking one of the ZTZ-59s! It's dead in the water!"_ Erwin reported gleefully.

Miho peered through her vision ports. Sure enough, one of the ZTZ-59s had lost a track and its idler wheel was bent almost all the way off by the force of the hit. "Hippo team, knock that thing out. Put a shot into the turret ring and then the gun barrel so it can't return fire!" Miho ordered sharply.

" _Jawohl Kommandant!"_ Erwin replied.

The 75mm gun on the Panzer IV fired again and this time Hana let out a bit of cheer. "Nice shot Hana!" Yukari cheered happily as a ZTD-03 exploded like a plastic toy, it's turret being thrown into the air as if it weighed nothing. Then there was a heavy _boom_ that rang through the hull causing a terrible ring. "Jesus _Christ!_ " Mako hissed.

"What _was_ that?!" Saori asked in alarm twisting around in her seat to look at Miho.

"We got hit! From the sounds of it by a 100mm HE-FRAG shell from one of those ZBDs!" Yukari shouted as she slammed a round into the breech of the 7.5cm KwK 40 L/48 gun. "Up!" She announced.

Several seconds later, Hana barked "Firing." and she pulled the firing stud. The gun fired, a deep thundering _boom_ that caused the turret to rock back slightly at the sametime the empty case was now ejected out the back of the gun. "Damn, missed!" Hana whispered as the shot landed just to the left of a ZTZ-59G.

The enemy was returning fire in earnest. 30mm, 100mm, 105mm, and 125mm HE-FRAG, APFSDS-T, and HEAT-FS rounds were landing amongst them in earnest now. Suddenly a titanic explosion rocked the Chinese line, Miho looked through her vision ports and let out a cheer. A ZTZ-59G was out of the fight, it's turret laying a dozen meters away from the hull which now had flames licking out of it. " _Yeah! That got him! Commander we got him with a shot trap into the hull!"_ Erwin called out her voice giddy with excitement.

A drumming like rain began to rattle against the hull of the Panzer IV, machine gun and rifle fire. The enemy infantry was engaging. Miho peered through the dust and smoke and spotted something alarming. "HANA! There's a man with an RPG at three o'clock! Take him out!" Miho screamed as he spotted the man hefting what appeared to be an RPG-7 right at the Panzer IV Ausf. H.

The turret rotated and then several moments later the coaxial machine gun came to life, a thundering _rat-tat-tat-tat_ that filled the fighting compartment, the clattering of ejected shell cartridges hitting the floor of the fighting compartment also resounded. The man stumbled and then staggered before suddenly collapsing amid a red spray, as the man fell he fired his rocket, the shell screamed right past the commander's cupola so closely Miho could actually _see_ the stabilization fins for the warhead, go blazing past.

 _We can't hold on like this._ Miho thought as more and more tanks began to fire their machine guns at the advancing infantry. The fire that the enemy armor was putting out was overwhelming, mainly because they were starting to bracket the Panzers, plus their armor couldn't take hits. Autocannon, rifle, and machine gun fire began to drum on the hulls like no tomorrow as the enemy machines opened fire with nearly everything they had.

However this battle wasn't entirely one sided. Most of the infantry had been cut down or wounded, some squads were starting to pull back in the face of overwhelming firepower. Not to mention all of the light tanks and the majority of the IFVs had been hit and where now flaming wrecks, but the four remaining MBTs kept on advancing wading through the incoming fire like it was nothing. Could those monsters even be stopped? As shots from Leopon and Bear team both bounced off the front of one of the ZTZs, it wasn't even phased.

Saori suddenly screwed up her face. "Oh that's just mean!" She snarled angrily.

"What is it, Saori-san?" Yukari asked.

"One of the ZTZs just insulted us! Berating us for our lack of firepower and ability to fight." Saori said pouting. "Don't worry about it Saori, they are just trying to get under our skins, we've done a pretty good job in terms of stopping enemy vehicles." Miho said. Returning to the task at hand, Miho schooled her appearance, so nobody would see her concern. There was nothing they could do, except watch as the enemy tanks came closer and closer, heedless of the volume of fire being hurled towards them. It was only luck, and a small amount of foresight that had kept everyone safe thus far. But, the fighting holes could only do so much, and some of the other vehicles were very exposed, like Rabbit Team's M3 Lee.

 _What do I do? Everybody is counting on me. What_ can _I do?_ Unfortunately, for Miho, the answer refused to manifest for once. However, it's been said that war turns seconds to hours, though in this case, it was quite the reverse. In a charge that would make Guderian himself jealous, Maho's forces roared out from the trees to the northwest, spewing fire and metal in equal, hateful measure.

" _Miho, well done on holding for long enough. We'll drive them off. Stay vigilant, however. There could be more."_ Maho's voice was the greatest relief Miho had ever felt.

" _Aww, I want to help rout the enemy!"_ Came the cry from the Sturmgeschütz III. Unable to formulate a response, Miho was happy to hear Erika of all people responding.

" _Absolutely not! You are needed to hold the defensive line! Under no circumstances will you leave your position!"_ Came a screaming that forced Saori to turn down the volume. So much so, that they very nearly missed the response.

" _Yes, Vice-commander Erika."_ Erwin apologized, embarrassment obvious in her voice.

After the last of the enemy had been driven off, with only bodies and burning hulks left behind, Maho returned. Once all tanks were safe inside the ring of fighting holes, everyone dismounted, and hugged. They all had something in common today. They all had to watch friends die, and had been forced to fight, and to kill. Sharing snacks, and words of comfort, everybody stopped to listen to the radio broadcast that was now coming in.

" _This is Sergeant Bruce Wilson in Niigata, to all civilians in Niigata Prefecture. This is an evacuation order. There are currently Chinese forces landing all throughout the country. If you can hear this broadcast, try to make your way safely to Niigata proper. There is a defensive line established by the Self Defense Force, and United States ground forces around the city. Bring only clothes and food and water. The administrators aboard the school ships docked here have agreed to let refugees on board, as evacuation ships. To the Tankery teams of Ooarai and Kuromorimine, we have received reports of what has transpired. Please, use your vehicles to return to your Academy Ships. We will be departing from this area at noon, two days from now. This broadcast will repeat. Good night, good luck, and may God or the Gods bless you."_

* * *

 _ **And there you have it. Yes, we killed Duck off immediately, but bear in mind, theirs was the weakest tank of the 'Battalion,' with armor values between 6 and 17 mm in thickness. To put that into perspective, there are tanks from The Great War with more armor. So, I guess we should discuss our roles. I will be the proofreader, the editor, and the technical advisor.**_

 **While I am going to be the main writer, but Baron will write some of his own sections as well. Now as you can tell, this will be a hell of a lot more terrifying, we are trying to accurately recreate war as much as we can. So expect to see blood, maybe some gore, most certainly swearing, and other things.**

 **As for the Sensha-dou rounds penetrating modern vehicles, the AP rounds are designed to fragment and crush on impact, thus the shell doesn't penetrate the target but kinetic force is still transferred to the target. Yet these rounds are also very similar to military grade drill rounds meaning they recreate the trajectory of the round that they are very accurately. However the ZTDs and ZBDs we have seen in this chapter there armor is only rated to stop at most maybe some 20mm cannon fire. Which means that something like a 75mm or 88mm Sensha-dou round has way more velocity behind it than a 20mm round for example. HE on the other hand does have penetration but it is generally very poor, to the point that unless it hits in just the right spot it won't penetrate, but the spalling is what is causing the carnage when it does connect with an LT or IFV.**

 **As for Erwin's StuG taking out a ZTZ-59G, he managed to pull off a nearly impossible shot, hitting the turret in such a way that the round bounced right into the top of a hull, which is very thin. Thus allowing it to penetrate, the top armor of tanks even today is incredibly thin, the fact that ZTZ-59Gs store ammunition all throughout turret, meaning that a penetrating hit can detonate the ammunition and incinerate the crew, while causing the turret to blow off in the Jack-in-the-box effect when all the hatches are closed.**

 **In fact while we are talking about the StuG, the difference between the Ausf. F and the Ausf. G actually isn't that much, just** _ **Schürzen**_ **armor like on the Panzer IV Ausf. H plus an increase in frontal armor, but the gun is the same.**

 **Translations:**

 **Rōgā: Roger**


	2. Mobilizing, In Transit

**AN: Howdy folks, here we are with another chapter of Girls Und Panzer: Legends. So in the first chapter, the Chinese have invaded Japan and are causing problems. Worst of all, Japan's Ministry of Defense has called for an evacuation of the Niigata Prefecture.**

 _ **Hello again.**_

 **Again, we don't own anything but the OCs and the plot.**

* * *

 _Shiroyama, Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Japan_

 _Combined Ooarai, Kuromorimine armored group_

Everyone sat around here and there, contemplating the message that was still repeating over the radio. The situation wasn't a good one, because they had lost comrades, were likely behind enemy lines, they had roughly 53 hours to get to the city of Niigata so they could board their respective school ships and escape with their lives, and to top it all off they were roughly one-hundred twenty-five kilometers from where they needed to be. Plus the terrain was mountainous and they didn't have the fastest of tanks either. So the biggest question that stood was, what should they do?

However among all of this, several crew members from both teams were simply in a state of shock, contemplating all that had transpired. Yukari was the most functional, if one could call it that, and likely only to distract herself. She walked, almost robotically, along the carnage, rounding up blankets, rations, whatever she could. Somehow managing to keep herself from looking at the fallen, former hostiles or not. Both groups had been forced to end lives and the tanks had the damage to show for it. Innumerable scratches, dents, and pockmarks adorned the armor and paint work of the twenty-eight tanks that were gathered on top of the hill. Fouling from powder adorned the muzzles of the guns, and mud was splattered against the sides of the tanks. Several of the hits that the tanks had taken, were it not for the carbon-nanotube reinforced Kevlar spall liner with a STANAG 4569 Level Three Ballistic Steel backplate inside the fighting compartment, the spalling from some of the hits would have been horrific. The only real good news was that the snow had stopped after the battle, but even that was a mixed blessing, since that gave an even clearer view of what happened, of what they all had done.

Miho was sitting on top of the turret of the Panzer IV, weeping. She still couldn't get over the fact that she had failed her team's trust in keeping them safe. She always saw it as fun and that if she had to, she would lose a match just to rescue her teammates if they were at risk of dying.

Yet, she hadn't been able to do anything to save the member of Duck Team when their tank had been hit by a anti-tank round that could go through the equivalent of hundreds of millimeters of Rolled Homogeneous Armor, and it had been fired against a tank that at most only had 17 millimeters of armor plate, it had been brutally excessive, even a High-explosive round would have been able to decimate the Duck Team's Tank.

On top of all of that, she, and the rest of everybody in this clearing had killed. Not only that, on her orders. Her team had ended lives today, as evidenced by the fact that the sides of the hill and surrounding field had been turned into a moonscape by shells, dozens of smoldering vehicles dotted the landscape, the smell of cordite, gunpowder, burning fuel, and burning flesh filled the air. Bodies dotted the landscape, some areas of the ground were nearly covered with empty brass. Not to mention the trees that missed shots had cut down or been run over by vehicles. She also knew that the floor of all the tanks that had coaxial machine guns had hundreds of empties covering the floor, or in the case of the Lee, easily thousands covered the floor of that machine.

It made her question whether or not she still deserved to live or not. That, combined with the shock of losing everyone on Duck Team in an instant. It weighed down upon her. Nothing more to do than just cry and think about what she could have done differently. She was so focused on that, that she didn't even notice her older sister approaching until she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in close. But suddenly being hugged, it startled her. She let out a squawk of alarm and went to struggle before a reassuring voice met her ears and instantly calmed her down.

"Miho. Meine kleine schwester. It's okay. It wasn't your fault, and nobody here would dare accuse you of any such lie. It could have been anyone, or everyone. I am more to blame than you. I sent the Luchs that made you stop. We both lost friends today, never forget that. But don't forget everyone else, who will be counting on you. For now, though, just let it out."

So, Miho felt like doing just that, and cried softly into Maho's shoulder. Everybody looked on in sympathy, but maintained a respectful distance. Some even cried with her. It made for a heart-warming sight and really revealed just how hard the events of the past couple of hours had hit everyone.

How long Miho just sat there, letting it out, she didn't know. However, after long enough, Miho wiped her eyes and returned the embrace to her older sister. After the two broke apart, Miho stood up shakily. Which earned more than a few collective smiles from the group assembled. It truly showed that they believed in her and if need be would put their lives in mortal danger to help her.

"Now, let's get everybody home." Maho looked her sister in the eyes, and they stood together. Miho nodded in agreement. "Yes. Let's." Miho replied calmly.

Then, together, the two Nishizumi sisters dismounted from the Panzer Tank. Together, the pair trudged over to a command tent that Yukari had set up. The bizarrity of that fact made everyone there wonder where the hell did she manage to pack everything? Regardless, the fact that they had one made planning their next course of action _far_ easier. Inside the small command tent was a rather shaky looking table that had a map of the area, already marked was where they were and where they needed to be in under fifty-three hours.

It was daunting to say the least, they had to traverse one hundred twenty five kilometers of mountainous terrain, in vehicles who for the most part their top speed wasn't above forty-eight kilometers per hour, were somewhat prone to breakdowns, consumed a lot of fuel, and to top it all off they had under fifty-three hours to get to where they needed to be.

Under normal circumstances, Miho was certain that a large amount of her team would have taken all of that as another challenge they accepted. But now, under wartime conditions? There was about a billion variables out of their control and add to the fact that there were most certainly hostile units working feverishly to secure the roads and railroads. It just made their task all the more impossible.

"So, we are _here_." Miho said using a small extendable pointer stick to indicate where they were at the moment. "We _need_ to be here, in less than fifty-three hours. Considering that at most we have a operational top speed of forty kilometers per hour, because of our slowest vehicles, and the distance we have to travel is one hundred twenty five kilometers _if_ we take only the roads and factor in that we have to worry about Chinese Air and Ground forces." She finished, drawing a relatively straight line to the city of Niigata. "This won't be an easy task."

Maho and Erika frowned in unison. "I have to say, when it's laid out like that. It reveals that this will be one hell of a tough operation." Erika said, looking at the map.

"Is there anything we should _really_ focus on?" Maho asked curiously.

Miho's shoulders slumped. "At the very most we should try our utmost to get Turtle Team, the Hetzer, back onto the Ooarai School Ship." She stated simply.

"Why is that?" Erika asked confused.

"The Hetzer is crewed by the Student Council. It's imperative that we get them back to the school ship ASAP." Miho replied.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! _WHY_!?" Erika shrieked so loudly that Miho thought that she might have given their position away to the enemy. Even Maho winced ever so slightly.

"It was a case of 'we needed every single hull we could get.' So, there's that. Plus, they have been very involved as well. Momo-chan for example, not only is she the PR manager for the student council, but she's also the Vice-Captain for the team as well." Miho said.

"That's probably one of the lamest reasons I have _ever_ heard!" Erika exclaimed in shock.

Miho sighed. "Tell me about it vice-Kommandant. Anyway, we have several options here and neither of them are very pretty. But, before any of that, we need to restock our ammunition at the Assembly Area. We can then take one of the following routes." She said explaining what they needed to do and what their options were in detail for getting to Nota where they could easily refuel after of course topping off at the Assembly area.

"We will head down the slope, travel towards Route 25, and start north from there. We'll follow the road until we reach Nota, and stop at a service station for fuel." After that, I'm not sure of the route. Are there any students from the area, or who visited the area in the past?"

"I did. I know these roads a little. But, it's been years." came a quiet voice somewhere near the middle of the crowd.

'It will be sufficient for now. Step forward, and state your name." came Maho's response.

"My name is Kaba Hona. I'm the loader on the Jagdpanther. My family would come to visit here in the summer." The now named Kaba Hona moved slowly to the table, mindful of all the eyes on her now.

"Well, what path would you recommend? We need to stay away from cities and large towns, and probably major highways."

To Miho's surprise, Hona quickly became all business. "Well, when we get to Nota, there's only one route we can take. We obviously need to head north, towards Kashiwazaki, but that would be too risky. Instead, there is a road eastward out of Nota, along Route 25, all the way to Yoita. From there, we can then turn north, along Route 252, then change to 73, on the outskirts of Kashiwazaki. Since we can't be sure of the enemy's deployment, we will need to skirt the mountain, here, staying on the same route. We can follow it all the way to Nishiyama. From there, the only real option is to run alongside the Echigo Rail Line. After that, the route is up to you, Commanders. We can pass over the Shinano River, into Bunsui, which will take us very close to a large population center. Alternatively, there is the coastal road. But that would leave us exposed, with nowhere to maneuver in the event of hostile contact." Miho could only stare, stunned at the sudden strength Hona had displayed.

"W-well, uh, we will take that into consideration as the situation develops. Fuel is the biggest concern for us. We will need to stop at any fuel stations we can, with sufficient picket groups to warn us if anyone is approaching. We can rotate posts as the tanks are filled up, since we can't just fill up all at the same time." Miho was glad her sister had given her encouragement before the meeting. She felt the pressure more than the fight against Selection. Back then, only the school was at stake.

"Another thing, if we encounter enemy MBTs how are we going to take them out, particularly with out regulation Sensha-dou rounds? Going for a mission-kill unless we get damn lucky is out of the question. Plus, while doing the mobility kill by immobilizing is an option but that still means it has a very big gun that can shoot back at you. Of course the catastrophic kill is nearly impossible unless you pull off a one in a million shot. So that means we can't engage the enemy unless the conditions favor us winning." Nakajima said shaking her head in disbelief at the equipment the enemy had at their disposal. It was true, Sensha-dou Regulation AP rounds were designed to fragment and crush on impact, thus drastically reducing penetration capability, while retaining the ability to accurately mimic the trajectory of the gun that fired the shell. Of course, even with those measures in place, you would still occasionally get a faulty shell, plus even with those measures they would slice right through a large amount of military grade aluminum armor like paper.

"About that, when I was getting the rounds for the Panzer IV during the pre-match preparations. I noticed that in one area of the ammunition depot where the match rounds are contained. That there was a bunch of heavy duty crates with heavy padlocks, I investigated these crates and found that they contained _live_ ammunition. APFSDS, AP, HEAT, HE, Canister, and Smoke rounds. Not to mention, steel core FMJ rounds for the machine guns, plus what appeared to be extra machine guns for the commander's cupolas." Yukari said, wringing her hands together nervously.

As everyone took in that revelation, they realized that they needed those rounds. They just might be the thing that could allow them to fight enemy MBTs in a fashion similar to how one would kill a Panther Tank, by hitting it in the side where the armor was thinner. Of course, there were always tanks that they could most likely penetrate from the front. The ZTZ-59G was likely an example of this inside certain ranges, and of course penetrating something like a IFV or APC they could do at just about all combat ranges.

"Alright, so we got our route planned, we know where we can get ammunition that will actually work against MBTs, anything else we need to cover?" Maho asked.

"We have twenty-eight tanks right now. That means we have roughly two Panzer Companies with fourteen Panzers in each. As it stands though, we barely have any recon capability. Which means a major lack of being able to tell what's up ahead and recon is a very vital asset to have in a situation right now." Erika explained, using the knowledge of their current tactical situation.

"Not necessarily. We have tanks that are highly maneuverable. The Luchs alone can make 60 kilometers per hour. I was thinking, how about we split our forces evenly into two Panzer Companies, each under the command of a different team captain and vice captain, if needed we can mix it up. Plus, we should remove the flag on our flag tanks, the enemy sees that and they will assume that it's the Company commander's vehicle and thus will focus their fire on it. Considering just how badly we're already outmatched, the last thing we need is something over one of our tanks that just puts a bulls-eye on it." Miho said looking thoughtful.

"Does that mean we are going to be reestablishing Sunflower and Dandelion Companies?" Erika asked curiously.

"That's actually not a half-bad idea. I mean, personally I wish we had enough Panzers to reform Morning Glory, but since we don't we are just going to have to make due with what we got. But, if anything were experts at making due with what we got." Miho answered.

"Alright, so what's the composition of the companies going to be?" Momo asked curiously. She had been taking notes furiously.

"Well, as it stands, we have one Tiger I, two Panther IIs, five Panther ausf Gs, one Jagdpanther, four Jagdpanzer IV/70s, a Panzer II ausf L and those are Kuromorimine's Panzers. For Ooarai's, we have a single Panzer IV, a M3 Lee, a StuG III ausf G, a Jagdpanzer 38(t), a Type-3 Chi-Nu, a Porsche Tiger, a Valentine Mk X, a P 26/40, and one KV-85. So that's what we have at our disposal. As it stands, Ooarai's lineup, while it has some gems, it's not the most balanced, particularly now that we have lost our primary scout: the Type 89B." Miho said with a heavy sigh, the loss of Duck Team still stung, she doubted that she would ever get over it.

 _How can we create two Panzer Companies with the tanks that we got so that they are roughly equal in capabilities?_ Maho thought, trying to think how they could do this. But it was tricky, they only really had one option.

"I will lend you a Jagdpanzer IV and a Panther I. That will give my company twelve tanks and your company eleven tanks. I don't really like it, but it makes the most sense. If you want to, I can also give you Erika and her Panther II if you give me in return the Hetzer." Maho said.

"I can do that. No problem, besides I feel obligated to at least give you something in return for lending me two extra tanks." Miho said calmly, but there was gratitude evident in her voice.

"Right, I will go and ask the Panther and Jagdpanzer IV commanders and see which ones will be likely to transfer." Erika said, excusing herself to go talk to the Panther and Jagdpanzer IV commanders.

"I think I should command Dandelion. Onee-chan, do you think you can command Sunflower?" Miho asked and Maho nodded in response.

"So I guess that covers everything then." Miho said.

"Exactly." Tsuga said. "So, it's at least seventy-seven miles to Niigata, there's a Chinese Invasion going on, the JSDF has called for the evacuation of the Niigata Prefecture, we got under fifty-three hours to get to Niigata or we will be left behind, it's dark out." she said, slipping on a pair of black aviators. "And I am wearing sunglasses."

"Hit it" Tanka Fuji the loader of the KV-85 said crisply with a grin on her face.

Everyone looked awkwardly at each other. "Well?! You heard her! Everyone man your Panzers! We're moving out in ten minutes!" Maho shouted, causing everyone to spring into action and go running to their Panzers. Before adding quietly aside to Miho. "I understood that reference."

Miho gave her older sister a funny look. "What reference did Tsuga and Tanka make?" she asked, whispering to her sister as Yukari worked furiously to take down the command tent and pack it up.

"It's a reference to the 1980 American musical crime comedy film 'The Blue's Brothers'. Good movie, has a few funny moments, but not really my taste." Maho said with a slight smile.

"Oh" Miho replied, understanding the reference, before smiling and nodding before sprinting toward her Panzer. At the sametime, the air came alive with numerous hungry growls as powerful diesel and gasoline engines came to life, but then a different noise filled the air, it sounded like an aircraft turbofan engine spooling up, she looked around frantically and managed to find that the noise was coming from the two Kuromorimine Panther IIs; which Miho then remembered were powered by in this case, each tank was powered by a single GT 102 Turboshaft engine, this engine gave the Panther II a specific horsepower per ton ratio of 27 hp/t. Which was better than any other tank in designed or built during World War II by a considerable margin and on par with modern MBTs!

"Miss Nishizumi?" A voice said behind her. Miho turned and saw Yukari. She certainly looked like she had been through hell, but she was carrying several things. Miho couldn't recognize them, at first.

"Yes, Yukari?" Miho asked, curiously.

"Here, I wanted you to have this. I found it on one of the dead Chinese soldiers, it might be useful in case we are ever forced to bailout and fight on foot." Yukari said as she handed, butt first, to Miho's shock, a pistol and what looked-like a thigh holster.

"What is it?" Miho asked, she didn't want a sidearm to protect herself. But, a nagging voice began telling her that it wasn't a bad idea.

"I had Tanka look at it, she said that it's a Chinese QSZ-92G. Standard issue sidearm for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It fires the 5.8x21mm DAP92 round, it's an Armor-piercing round that has the capability to penetrate 1.3mm of steel helmet plate and then punch through 50mm of pine wood out to a range of 100 meters. It's one of the few firearms that I have found that can still work or are in workable condition, there's also a few submachine guns and a single carbine. I also have scavenged as much ammunition for those things as I could." Yukari said, her voice weak.

"Thanks Yukari, but I don't need this. As it stands I have already ended lives through my orders, I don't know what I will do if I am forced to end a life personally." Miho said, she didn't want to have a gun, it was something that was totally alien to her, she did know the extreme basics of firearms safety.

But a small part of the back of her mind kept on telling her " _If the tank is hit and begins to brew up and you're too badly wounded to bail out, it would be helpful to have something to use to take the easy way out, if your fellow crew members can't help you bailout. Plus if you_ are _forced to bailout, you aren't totally helpless against enemy infantry, it fires a pretty powerful round."_

"Please, Nishizumi-dono. Just take it, it could be useful in an emergency. At the very least, if we are forced to bail out while in combat, you will then have a method of protecting us." Yukari said, the hint of a few tears beginning to slide down her cheeks.

Miho realized that Yukari had a point. She wanted to protect her crew, but thinking that she could do so if they were forced to bailout of the tank without a weapon of some kind? Well that was just wishful thinking really. Mainly because they were in a war zone. The fact that they were riding in tanks was moot. Their tanks weren't the 'apex predators' on this field of battle, on this field of battle the 'apex predators' were Main Battle Tanks like the American M1A2 Abrams MBT, the Japanese Type 10 MBT, and the Chinese ZTZ-99A MBT.

"Thanks, Yukari. But I have to ask; where did you get the holster?" Miho asked, grateful for the fact that due to the weather they were wearing the winter variation of their tankery uniform, which was very similar to the summer variation, but it did away with the skirt and replaced it with athletic tights for cold weather. Another thing that came with the winter variation of their tankery uniform was a heavy winter jacket. The winter athletic tights were khaki in color and the jacket was the same color as the uniform top. No more cold legs, like against Pravda.

"I asked Tanka how you use it. If you want to, I can put your holster on and show you the basics of how to operate the pistol." Yukari said, appearing slightly bashful.

Miho turned the pistol over in her hands several times. "Thanks, Yukari. That will be incredibly helpful." She said, looking at the Burnette.

"Sure! Alright this has a slide release, this long piece here. When you run out of ammo, the slide, all of the top of the gun, will lock back. When you reload, press the button on the grip, here, and the empty magazine will drop out. Insert a new magazine, and push the slide release down with your thumb. In order to fire, you need to line up the two posts, here, on your rear sight, with the front sight in the middle. That is where you will be aiming. Right here is the hammer. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer comes down on the firing pin, sending it into the primer of the round." Yukari said quickly pointing to the items mentioned. "Right here is the most important part, the safety. Currently it's in the safe position, you flick it down, until it clicks, and the red dot is visible. Otherwise it won't fire. You can talk to Tanka later about field-stripping and cleaning something like this later, she's bound to be more knowledgeable on this than I am." The brunette explained pointing to all of the various items on the weapon. Yukari then looked Miho square in the eyes. "But, and this is the most important part, no matter what, treat this weapon as if it were loaded, even if you know it isn't, and the magazine is out, and the slide is locked back. Also, don't point it at anyone or anything you don't want to shoot at. It's dangerous."

"Alright thanks Yukari, but what about the holster?" Miho asked curiously.

"That's rather easy to put on." Yukari said, she then showing how to put it the thing on, strapped the thing about halfway down her thighs, right in easy reach Miho realized. If she needed to unholster the thing, which she never hoped that she needed to do, she could easily grab it.

"Let's get going then." Miho said, getting used to the feel of the Holster around her thigh. It felt so _weird_ and it bugged her to no end that she couldn't tug at it. Still she mounted the Panzer IV, making sure that she was unbuttoned.

"Are we ready to go, Mako?" Miho asked after she had put on her throat mic.

" _Hai, we are commander."_ Mako said somewhat sleepily, they were in the middle of a war zone and Mako still sounded like she would fall asleep at any moment. It was enough to bring a smile to her face. Some things never changed.

"All Dandelion Company Panzers ready?" Miho asked over the radio.

" _Leopon Team ready."_ Nakajima said.

" _Rabbit Team ready."_ Yuuki said, her voice was still a little hoarse from crying.

" _Hippo Team ready Kommandant!"_ Erwin said crisply.

" _Turtle Team, ready commander."_ Momo said tersely.

" _Anteater Team ready for deployment."_ Nekota replied.

" _Mallard Team ready."_ Sodoko reported.

A minute before the Kuromorimine tanks started reporting in, Miho realized that Duck Team hadn't reported in. Then she remembered that they were gone and that the silence was merely a sign of respect for the fallen.

" _Panther II ready!"_ Erika growled.

" _Panther I set!"_ Koume said sounding, slightly happy; must have been because she was working with Miho again, she had also made it very clear that she was eternally happy for Miho having thrown a match just to save the lives of her teammates.

" _Jagdpanzer IV/70 number four, reporting, ready to roll Kommandant."_ The commander of the lone Jagdpanzer IV/70 that was now in Miho's company reported.

 _Once more unto the breach._ Miho thought before giving her next order. "All tanks move out! Panzer vor!" She barked.

With a thundering roar, the tanks came out of their fighting holes and rumbled down the mountain, quickly forming up into somewhat similar formations. Loose wedge formations, with the tanks that had turrets properly covering their flanks. Still there was a heavy tension in the air as they advanced toward the Assembly area, they all feared encountering the Chinese again. Particularly because during the two hour long contest against Chinese MBTs earlier, the Ooarai tanks were nearly bone-dry on ammunition for their main guns with only a few shells left. Plus most of the tanks had fired a large portion of their machine gun ammunition.

To put it simply, the tanks of Dandelion couldn't afford to get into a major engagement with enemy forces. They also had to avoid clearings as much as possible, mainly because they would stick out like sore thumbs if they did so. But the trip back to the assembly area was long, being at least forty-five minutes long and it was quiet, it was really unnerving to say the least.

Still, they were all relieved when they rumbled into the assembly area and found that the Chinese hadn't arrived at the area yet. Which meant that the fuel and ammunition reserves for the Panzers were untouched, which was incredibly helpful.

" _Miho, you have your company restock first. You have far less ammunition than us, we will maintain a perimeter."_ Maho said over the radio.

"Rōgā, thanks. Alright Dandelion Company, let's get restocked in terms of ammunition and fuel!" Miho said sharply.

With a lurch the tank rumbled into motion and began heading for toward the main ammunition dump so that they could restock their ammunition. Following behind the Panzer IV came the tanks of the Ooarai Girls High School Tankery Team as well as a Panther II, a Panther Ausf. G, and a Jagdpanzer IV/70 of Kuromorimine following like ducklings. When the tank came to a halt, Miho gave orders for everyone to perform basic maintenance, checking the fluids of the vehicle and restocking the ammunition.

Still, the process was long and difficult, particularly considering the weight of the shells and the fact that their tanks could carry a large number of them. The M3 Lee had an ammunition capacity of one hundred thirteen rounds for it's 37mm gun, fifty rounds for it's 75mm gun, and six thousand rounds for it's M1919s and that was just _one_ tank.

Still as they were loading, Miho noticed that the automotive club was in addition to restocking ammunition for not only the powerful eighty-eight and the MG 34s that there tank was equipped with, but had also mounted on a mount for the commander's cupola was an MG 42. The crew was also working feverishly to repair an absolutely _enormous_ gash on the left turret cheek, the wound went all the way down to about two and half inches into the three inch thick spall liner, just half an inch away from the two inch thick spall liner backplate and the fighting compartment beyond. That meant that the round had very nearly penetrated the turret, with likely the Spall Liner being the thing that had prevented it from occurring. From the looks of it, divergence of deflection had been the cause of the non-penetration, thankfully. Still the damage was beyond incredible, more so than even a direct hit from Pravda's KV-2 and once during her time at Kuromorimine she had been on the receiving end of one of those, that hadn't been pleasant, and her tank was in repair for _four_ months.

"How are the repairs going, Nakajima?" Miho called and the commander of Leopon Team looked up from where she was working on the engine. "Pretty well Kommandant! But, we were _very_ lucky with the one hit that we did take. We might be looking at a new turret, but the thing is, I don't know what we can do about it apart from patching the damage up as best we can. But I got no guarantees about getting it totally fixed. We get back to the school ship and I am certain we can fix it." The mechanic said, looking at the enormous gouge in the turret cheek of the powerful Tiger Porsche.

"I bet it wasn't fun taking that hit. It was probably quite a bit louder than normal." Miho said at length.

Nakajima nodded. "You have no idea how bad. Best description that I can come up with is that imagine you have a cast iron pot on your head and then have someone slash it with a saw, hard. I am pretty sure that all of us need to have our ears checked because of how loud it was inside." she said, rubbing her ears as she spoke.

Miho winced in sympathy she had _heard_ that impact and she had been underneath a Luchs, which had it's engine running and Leopon had been at least 150 meters away from her. There had been an explosion of sparks when that shell had impacted the tank, it had been terrifying seeing that.

"Alright, keep at it Nakajima. Also, I am glad your all okay from that hit." Miho said and Nakajima smiled in response and nodded.

Miho then went to where Bear Team was, the powerful KV-85 Heavy Tank had taken the hit a hell of alot better than Leopon had. Apart from a half an inch deep gouge that was half an inch long, there was barely any damage on the tank's turret. Miho whistled in surprise at the lack of damage to the tank, considering that they had taken what was basically a graze from a 105mm spike round.

Tsuga suddenly poked out from the commander's cupola, she then tossed a Sensha-dou regulation HE round out easily to a waiting crewmember, who wasted no time in simply dropping it, the round clanged angrily on the concrete. "Alright! That's the last of those rounds! Come on, let's get the live ones in now!" She barked at her gunner and her driver. That's when she spotted Miho. "Oh, hey Commander!" She said.

"Tsuga, I have to ask. How are you doing?" Miho called up to her.

"Considering we are in the middle of a war zone, in a race against the clock, and will likely die? Not bad." Tsuga said bluntly, which earned a snort of agreement from Miho, and a pang in her heart. ' _That's gallows humor, I suppose,'_ Miho mused.

"How's everyone doing, particularly with that hit you took and all?" Miho asked.

"Not bad, it was loud as hell, but it probably hit at such a weird angle that it just skipped off. Particularly considering that it was a spike round, I am impressed the armor held up. Granted we take a direct hit, at best the tank will lurch to a stop because we're all either dead or wounded or at worst the turret will wind up several meters away from where the hull is." Tsuga said, before turning to accept an 85mm HEAT round and with loving care guided it into the turret, where she likely handed it off to Tanka who would slot the shell into it's slot in a ammo rack.

Seeing that Bear Team was beginning to commence loading of the live rounds. Miho went off to find Koume. It had been a while since she had talked to her and since all of their time might very well be limited, it would make sense to be able to chat with her as much as possible, before they ran out of time.

As she walked up to Koume's Panther I Ausf G, she noted that the tank was certainly beaten up. Numerous pockmarks adorned the frontal armor from 30mm autocannon fire, both of the mud flaps at the front had been shot away, plus there was an enormous dent in the upper glacis armor from where a 105mm HE-Frag round had hit dead center. Miho thanked the builders almost a century ago for making this Panther extra sturdy.

"Koume!" Miho called out. "How's it going?

"Commander Nishizumi. Hello. It's going well. How are you?" Koume replied, cheerful as ever.

"Well, the swap is probably almost done. All of our tanks are fueled. We're doing okay."

Koume smiled in response. "That's good to hear I just hope that I never have to fire the commander's cupola mounted MG in anger, particularly at another human being, an aircraft or helicopter I can certainly handle, but probably not at another human being." She said gesturing to the fearsome looking MG42 that had been mounted for use by the commander.

Miho nodded in response, she absolutely _hated_ the idea of ending the life of another human being with a weapon that she had been forced to pull the trigger on. But she knew that if it came down between herself and her crew and the other guy, she would choose her crew every single time. She just hoped that she was never forced to make that decision.

"Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari called out behind Miho, she turned and saw that she was coming up quickly. "What is it Yukari?" Miho asked.

"Loading of ammunition and fuel is complete. We are ready to roll out." Yukari said.

Miho nodded in response. "Thanks Yukari." she then looked at Koume. "I guess we better get ready for that swap then, because Sunflower needs to stock up on fuel and ammo as well." she said.

Climbing back into her commander's seat, Miho had Saori key into the agreed-upon frequency. "This is Commander Nishizumi. We have completed refueling and rearming. Begin switching places, one by one at a time."

" _Ryōkai, send the StuG out first, we'll be sending one of the Panthers in first. Next will be the Luchs, and the Hetzer. After that, the order will be up to you._ " Came Erika's calm response.

"Understood. Hippo team, that's you cue. You'll be taking the position of one of the Panthers. Radio in once you are in place, and Turtle Team will move out."

" _Rōgā, Commander. Let's move._ " You could always count on Erwin to be upbeat.

And so, like some sort of multi ton ballet, the tanks swapped places, and went through the motions. Fuel first, then unloading the Sensha-do ammunition, loading up the machine guns, then loading the live tank rounds, meanwhile someone came up to the picket line, and added their eyes, and filled the hole. After about two and a half hours, Miho ticked the last tank off her mental list, which, conveniently, was Maho's Tiger. A quick check with her confirmed, that was everyone.

"All panzers, move out. Let's get this show on the road, next stop Nota." Miho said over the radio. Moments later a series of affirmatives came through and the twenty-eight Panzers lurched forward and rumbled away from the assembly area, heading toward Route Twenty-Five, which would eventually take them to Nota.

* * *

The trip toward Nota was relatively uneventful, and the scenery was nice. But everyone knew better, there was a war on and thus every single commander in the group was unbuttoned and riding 'heads-up' so they could see what they were doing. Fifteen kilometers ahead of the main force, the Luchs was acting as a picket for anything and had been given standing orders to report anything out of the ordinary. So far they had two false alarms that had just turned out to be animals. Still, it was starting to get unnerving, mainly because they _knew_ Chinese forces were in the area. Yet they hadn't encountered them at all.

Just what was going on? First the Chinese attacked them with loads of vehicles and now they just disappear? What the hell was going on? It just didn't make sense at all.

But as they were approaching Nota proper, the radio crackled. It was Himi. " _Kommandants, bad news. We got eyes on Nota and it's occupied by the Chinese, from the looks of it we are dealing with at least twenty infantrymen, two Type-91 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and from the looks of it a single Main Battle Tank, we can't tell what model the thing is right now."_

"Can we sneak around them to the south?" Miho didn't have a contingency for this. Mainly because it was so unexpected, but if the reaction to their sudden appearance would be similar to the Chinese Airborne, it would be their first time in combat with people actually shooting back.

" _Negative, they're headed that way anyway."_ Himi reported her voice grim.

"Yukari, what are the specifications of the Chinese Type 91 IFV?" Miho asked, she wasn't really familiar with modern MBTs that much.

Yukari looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "The Chinese Type-91 Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle is based on the chassis of the Chinese Type-90 Armored Personnel Carrier. It's powered by a 360 horsepower Diesel Engine, it also has a longer chassis compared to the standard Type-90 APC, having six road wheels instead of five road wheels. It has a two-man turret similar to the Soviet BMP-2 and said turret can be fitted with an autocannon of either 23mm, 25mm, or 30mm caliber. It has a crew of three, a driver, gunner, and commander. Plus it can carry thirteen fully equipped soldiers into battle. However it's armor can only stand up to 12.7mm gunfire anything bigger than that and it's armor will simply crumple. That means even the Luchs will be able to penetrate those things. But I don't know if it can be equipped with ATGMs but I wouldn't be surprised it can, the missiles that it most likely can fire are Chinese HJ-9 ATGMs, which are 152mm caliber missiles, with a range of up to and including five point five kilometers, but they have a minimum arming distance, the HJ-9 _will not detonate_ if it's target is at or less than 100 meters away from the launching vehicle. They are guided by Semi-Active Millimeter Wave radar or laser-beam riding. Their tandem charge HEAT warhead can burn through effectively 1100 millimeters to 1200 millimeters of RHA armor." Yukari said describing in depth what the Chinese AIFVs might be capable of.

Miho grimaced, this wasn't good. Those two AIFVs could just as easily utterly obliterate any tank that both Kuromorimine and Ooarai had at their disposal at the moment as easily as any Chinese Main Battle Tank. However unlike Chinese Main Battle Tanks, they could actually quite easily penetrate the front of the Type-91 AIFV with _ease_ at most combat ranges.

" _Wait a sec! Kommandants! That MBT is in motion! I got eyes on it now! Well, I be damned. It's a Chinese ZTZ-59G Main Battle Tank, the design that thing is based on is basically_ ancient _just hit that sucker in the lower plate and that should kill it."_ Himi said suddenly.

Miho looked at Yukari again. "Anything we should know about the Chinese ZTZ-59G?" She asked.

"While the chassis it's based on is very outdated. I wouldn't underestimate a Chinese ZTZ-59G MBT at all. Because while it's hull is based on the Soviet designed T-54/55 MBT, the 59G has a redesigned turret and armor scheme, as a result it looks similar to the Chinese ZTZ-96A MBT, it's armed with a 125mm main gun, has modern fire control systems, arrow shaped armor for the turret, spaced armor, and possibly third generation MBT subsystems. The PLAGF recently made the 59G the primary MBT for their Airborne Forces as well." Yukari said, explaining the Chinese MBT in detail.

Miho nodded, with that information in hand. Would it be hard to take Nota from the Chinese? Absolutely. However was it possible with the forces that they had on hand? Certainly, but it wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure. More than that, however, was that it was risking others lives, a prospect that turned her stomach. But the more she thought about it, the more a rather audacious plan began to form in her mind, one that most military battlefield planners would think was absolutely insane. However, Miho was no stranger to doing crazy plans and executing them, probably her craziest one she had concocted had either been her plan to take down the Maus during the finals, or her plan to finish the match against Selection University.

But it just might work. "Saori, think you can do a bit of distraction? Use JGSDF units and if possible American Units and try to have them discuss about attacking Nota? If we are lucky. The Chinese _might_ pull out. We'll have to use some of the others to help out here, since we'll need multiple voices." Miho said.

Saori gave Miho a bit of a weird look. "Is this one of your crazy plans that while at the moment of it's conception seems well, insane but when executed it works?" Saori asked.

Miho smiled slightly. "Yes, yes it is." She said simply.

Off in the distance, heavily muffled booms began to ripple out, one after another; it was probably artillery beginning to start up and thus would be resounding all day. That's when Miho decided to put her plan into action. "Open comms with everybody. Let me know when you have everybody. Use cell phones, like back against Saunders."

"We're ready. I just hope this works. They might have triangulators, and come for us." Saori said what Miho felt, but, duty and all that.

"All tanks, we're coming into Nota now. Sitrep."

" _This is Bravo. Nothing to report."_ Erika's tone was clipped, efficient. Perfect.

" _Charlie team here. All tanks in prime condition."_ Sodoko sounded by the book, no surprises there.

" _Delta Team reporting. All machines ready"_ Koume said, sounding remarkably similar to Erika.

" _This is Echo, receiving."_ Wow. Erika can pull off a surprisingly good and _passable_ male voice.

" _Foxtrot here. Keeping an eye out, feeling kind of exposed."_ Himi said somewhat nervously. 'Perfect,' Miho thought. 'I can use that.'

"Foxtrot, Alpha. Maintain radio discipline, please. Do not discuss your positions on open lines in this manner."

" _Understood. We are approximately 20 kilometers north of Nota. Awaiting orders."_ 'Now, let's give it a shot. I hope they fall for it.'

" _Ryōkai_. We're approaching Nota from the west. Distance, 20 kilometers. We'll move in, and meet at the main intersection."

That was when a new voice came over the radio. " _This is the 2nd Infantry Regiment, squads Golf, Lima, and November. We copy your transmissions. We are travelling with members of the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, B Company, who are American. Nice to hear some friendly chatter."_

Thinking quickly, Miho figured it was one of the other tanks adding their assistance. "Nice to hear from you too, Golf, Lima, and November. What is your current position, and combat makeup?"

" _We're currently ten kilometers outside of Nota, headed north. Our composition is currently one Type 74 MBT, three Type 89 IFVs, and three squads of infantry. The 81st Stryker Combat Brigade has two M1134s, one M1128 MGS, and six M1296s with two platoons of infantry."_ Came the voice again. 'Wow,' Miho thought. 'Whoever this is is going really far.'

That was when another voice came on, with a very strange accent. " _So, what unit are you with? We thought all available forces who weren't engaged yesterday had already gone through to Niigata."_

 _Whoever this was was going really far for the sake of story. Maybe one of the first years, or something._ Miho thought. "This is Alpha Lead, of the, uh," Miho looked around her, and got blank stares in return. "We're part of the 228th Infantry Battalion, we got separated from our unit in the chaos with the Chinese invading."

" _228th Infantry Battalion? Thank god, we went through the same thing. All hell broke loose when the Chinese invaded. Still, I think it's time to show the ChiComs that we are angry as hell that they are on Japanese soil! Let's go shove a boot up their ass!"_

"Uh, ryōkai. See you in town." Okay then, this was getting a little awkward. Thankfully, that's when Himi texted Saori that the Chinese were moving east, fast. Really fast. Switching back to the regular radio frequency, Miho told everybody the news. "The Chinese forces are leaving. The ruse worked. Let's get into town, quickly." That was when Saemonza came on the radio. " _The best victory is that which requires no battle."_ Miho rolled her eyes. The ordeal had been more than a little awkward. Still, she suddenly had this feeling in the pit of her stomach, about while they were undergoing the ruse; those last two speakers, something about them felt off, but why that was Miho had no idea. Of course, it could just be the situation. It was probably a military otaku, probably from Kuromorimine.

Still even as she gave orders for her 'battalion' really just a company of ancient tanks to head into town, she was glad they had tricked the Chinese into leaving. Best make the most of the time they had, in case they left a rear guard to watch for the 'enemy.' "Everyone, head towards the main intersection, then head south. The Service Station is on the right. Be sure to top off."

After a chorus of affirmatives, Miho had Saori listen in to any local broadcasts. Overall, the situation was grim, but not hopeless. Apparently, the Niigata Line, as it was being called, had been established, and was covering the evacuation of civilians onboard any boat that could hold them. It's too bad they were out of radio range. Maho and Anzu probably would have radioed in to check on their own schools. Hopefully, they were letting people aboard those, as well. It would be cruel to leave such giant spaces empty, while people were being crammed together on smaller craft. The thought made her shudder. Finally reaching Nota, Miho was glad to see the Luchs okay. "All right everybody. Let's refuel quickly, they might come back. Nice work on the ruse." And so, all twenty eight tanks rolled into town, and turned, headed towards the service station down the road. However, nobody noticed the sounds of approaching vehicles over their own.

* * *

With refueling well underway, Miho took the time to look at how her tank was doing. The poor anglerfish on the turret had seen better days, mainly from bullet strikes and tree limbs scraping him off. Not really paying attention, Miho was surprised to hear tracks rolling up, then stopping on the other side of the tank, where she couldn't see.

"What the…?" The voice, in English, trailed off. Miho walked around to the other side of her Panzer to see who spoke. She came face-to-face, well face-to-chest, with a tactical vest with a US flag on it. "Oh, excuse me, miss. You must be one of those, what do they call it? Tankers?" Now Japanese. Accented. Oh dear.

"That's Tankery, Captain." Now, there was another person, this time with a Japanese flag on his vest. Oh, kami.

"Right, right. Sorry Lieutenant. I remember the briefing on a Tankery match in the area. So, that's who that sergeant on the radio was talking about. Anyway, we're looking for the units from another battalion, the 228th? Have you seen any Self Defense Forces around?" It can't be.

"We need to link up with them. We'll escort you all to Niigata, so you can board your ships." Might as well come out and say it.

"Captain, sir. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but that was a ruse. _We're_ the 228th. We were trying to trick Chinese troops into leaving the town, because we needed to stop, and pass through on _our_ way to Niigata."

"What?" More english, and a flat stare. This was going to be a long explanation. Thinking back, Saemonza used the wrong quote. She should have used the ironically Chinese proverb, 'may you live in interesting times.'

* * *

 _ **And that's the next one done. After many sleepless hours staring at satellite photos of the area, the wikia, and a calculator, we hashed out a route. Places are accurate, people are not. Like the sergeant in the Broadcast. The name is real, the person is not. Also, yes, Maho is being touchy-feely, but**_ **I** _**don't plan on shipping here. To me, she's consoling a fellow shoulder of the Burden of Command, as well as a hurt sibling.**_

 **God, that was tough hashing out that route, mainly because there are about a dozen different ways to get to where they need to go. That's our logic with why Maho acted the way she did in this chapter. I mean someone would have to be rather cruel to** _ **not**_ **console someone who had just been through hell. Also note, the firearms mentioned in the story are real firearms that actually exist in the world, same with the ammunition.**

 _ **The 5.8 x 21mm round is a Chinese version of the more well known, Belgian cartridge 5.7 x 28 mm. The FN Five Seven. As I haven't held a QSZ-92, I don't know for certain how exactly the mechanism works, so I looked at images, and drew from my own experience to try to describe its usage.**_

 **The M1926 variant of the Stryker is real, it's known as the Dragoon and currently goes by the designation XM1926. The idea of this thing is to give the rifle companies in Stryker Brigade Combat Teams firepower on par with Russian BMP-2s, considering that after reorganization there are less MGSs in the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. It has an unmanned turret with a 30mm autocannon that is dual fed, plus a 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine gun. Yet it still carries nine troops.**

 _ **When we came to Nota, we decided that, in true GuP fashion, something went wrong. We also decided that, in this case, Miho could definitely talk her way out. Mainly because of the Sun Tzu quote. It also came across as hilarious. A bunch of school children bluffing Chinese Army troops into running literally for the hills. It was Thor's idea for actual troops to be headed there as well.**_

 **Translations**

 **Ryōkai: Roger That**

 **Rōgā: Roger**

 **Otaku: Geek or nerd**

 **Meine kleine schwester: My little sister**


	3. The Road to Niigata Part 1

**AN: So, Awkwardness ho! Somehow both the Ooarai and Kuromorimine's ruse worked** _ **too well**_ **. They managed to fool not only the Chinese, but also members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces and the United States Army. This is going to be awkward as hell.**

 **Anyway, the 81st SBCT is a** _ **real**_ **unit as is the JGSDF's 2nd Infantry Regiment. However I don't know if their is a 228th Infantry Battalion in the JGSDF, it was something we came up with.**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter.**

* * *

 _Nota, Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture_

 _0750 Hours, December 21st, 2025_

 _Combined Ooarai/Kuromorimine Armored Company_

The one thought that was going through Miho's head as she realized that they had succeeded in fooling not only the Chinese Ground Forces but also JGSDF (Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces) and USA (United States Army) Units was best described as the following. _Well, this is awkward._ Which meant that the ruse they had decided to pull had worked _way better_ than intended.

This was going to be _fun_ explaining this to actual military forces. That's when she heard Yukari's voice. "Holy crap! An actual honest to god Type-74 mod G/Kai! Only three were converted to that standard!" she said in awe and promptly went into a Panzer high, which earned a chuckle from the commander of the MBT.

Miho looked around the large American, who she had to admit looked rather imposing, considering the fact that he was wearing your standard American Army Combat Uniform, was clad in body armor that looked tough enough to stop a burst from a .30 caliber machine gun at close range, his helmet had a visor that covered both of his eyes, it had a soft blue glow to it so it was likely projecting a HUD or something and it also had a mic for communications, plus the combat webbing that contained additional magazines, grenades, and other equipment, plus he was wielding an assault rifle of some kind complete with what appeared to be under-barreled weapon of some kind, and a pistol in a holster, and lastly the fact that he was six feet tall.

Sure enough, there was a Type 74 mod G/Kai MBT or often Type 74 Kai for short. The Type 74 Kai was the _definitive_ model of the Type 74 Main Battle Tank. The Type 74 Kai while it was a good machine had some serious drawbacks, it still had a 105mm gun that while it could take care of something like a T-80 frontally rather easily, it couldn't penetrate something like a ZTZ-99A. The Type 74 was simply a product of a by-gone time when people believed that armor was going to useless, it was quick but it didn't have composite armor plus it had major design flaws, such as when the ready racks were emptied the turret needed to be traversed to the right so the loader could access the ammunition stored in the hull. This tank however had been outfitted for war, because it had covering it's hull front and sides as well as it's turret front and sides AMPAS-SC composite armor packs, giving this MBT some protection against Shaped-charge ammunition.

Sadly, with the majority of the Type-74s now retired plus originally only three of the old 2nd Generation MBTs had been upgraded as such to the Type 74 Kai level. Mainly because JGSDF now had close to four hundred and fifty Type 10 MBTs which had way more capability to be upgraded than the old Type 74s which were hopelessly outdated and outclassed in the face of threats like the Chinese ZTZ-99A MBTs, which sadly was now a reality, the best description that one could say when it came to comparing the ZTZ-99A MBT to even the Type 74 Kai MBT would be like comparing the Panzer IV Ausf. F2 to the King Tiger, because while the Panzer IV Ausf. F2 can kill a King Tiger it can only do it from the sides and rear at certain ranges while the King Tiger can kill the Panzer IV Ausf. F2 from all combat ranges from any angle.

The same was true with the American Mobile Gun System with its 105mm M68 Rifled Gun, when it came to fighting MBTs, it simply couldn't do it as it just didn't have the armor. But the M1134s, with their lethal ATGMs could kill anything the Chinese had in terms of tanks from the front, but it couldn't take a hit in return.

Unfortunately the M1926s while they could shred any sort of jeep, APC, IFV, Light Tank, or infantry squad that was dumb enough to stand in front of it's autocannon and machine guns. But unless it got into the proper position it wouldn't even hurt an MBT. Same couldn't be said about the Type-89 IFV however, it also had an autocannon plus two ATGMs that would likely defeat most MBTs frontally.

Still the fact that they had actually managed to completely _by accident_ play a ruse out with a _real_ military formation. Well suffice to say that both parties were sharing confused glances at each other, mainly because of how spectacularly well the ruse had worked.

"So, let me get this straight. You, and several other students, using an open ended frequency, not only tricked _us_ into believing that you were a company of tanks with infantry support, but a Chinese detachment as well?" The American, now named Captain Richard Caldwell, seemed skeptical. Miho could see the problem. Thankfully, the JGSDF Lieutenant, Takeda, was there to interpret, since it seems Captain Caldwell was unable to express his sentiments in Japanese. "How in the name of all things military did we miss that?"

"To be honest? I have no idea. I thought you were several other students just pitching their own two cents in to try and make it seem as realistic as possible." Miho said, her shoulders slumping.

"Oh brighten up Commander. I have to say, I wish we had you in our Electronic Warfare unit, because you managed to fool us. The fact that you managed to fool _three separate military formations_ from _three separate militaries_ , well it's really saying something." Takeda said, amusement visible in his eyes.

"T-thanks. To be fair, I wasn't sure if it was going to work in the first place. Because if it didn't then things would have gotten very interesting very fast, for us at least." Miho replied, smiling slightly.

"So, I take it that you had decided to come here before heading to Niigata to refuel before heading out?" Caldwell inquired.

Miho nodded. "Yes sir, it was. Mainly because some of our tanks, like our Tiger Porsche, which only has a range of eighty kilometers. That means even after we fill up here, we are going to have to refuel somewhere else down the road just so we aren't forced to ditch the tank." She said, gesturing to the Tiger Porsche.

"Christ, what hit that thing?" Takeda asked, looking at the Tiger Porsche and the enormous gash that adorned the left side of the turret.

"That would be a non-penetration from a Chinese ZTD-03's 105mm gun shooting AP rounds. It nearly penetrated the tank, it tore through the entirety of the armor and through most of the safety shell. With only half inch of safety shell before the backplate. It came really close to punching through." Miho said, dropping her head.

Takeda's eyes swept over the various tanks, that's when he noted that one particular Ooarai Girls High School tank was missing. "Where's the Type 89B I-Go?" Takeda asked, after looking around and not seeing the tank in question.

"The what?!" Caldwell said confused.

"Captain, the Type-89B I-Go Medium Tank was one vehicle that was constantly in Ooarai's lineup last year during the tournament and during the match against Selection University. It was always a weak, underpowered vehicle, with its armor plates bolted together and with only a maximum thickness of 17mm, it was also armed with a short-barrelled 57mm howitzer. It's crewed by the volleyball team. They are my daughter's favorite team." Takeda further explained.

Miho's heart jumped out of a skydiving plane with no parachute. She hadn't expected this at all. How could she explain this, her own failure, to someone like Takeda? "Lieutenant, when the Chinese started invading. They had IFVs first hit Kuromorimine, which it didn't end well for them. But they managed to destroy a Panther tank and kill the majority of it's crew. Later, we were met by their Luchs" Miho said gesturing to the light tank in question. "When we suddenly came under fire from enemy vehicles. Something that had a 105mm gun, several somethings actually. I didn't see the hit responsible, mainly because myself and Himi, the commander of the Luchs promptly dove under the thing in fear. But I did see the aftermath of the hit. One of the rounds had struck the Type 89, judging by the damage it was a HEAT round and it just turned the vehicle into an inferno. No one managed to bailout and the ammunition cooked off as well." she said, fighting back tears.

Caldwell nearly dropped his rifle in shock at that bombshell. He raged inside, mostly, at the thought of children dying pointlessly, especially because of this invasion. Takeda however merely clasped his hands together and began whispering something, for several moments before finishing with "amen."

"I am sorry for your loss, that shouldn't have happened. However, right now; you need to focus on the here and now. Because your team needs you to be the strong and dependable commander that I know you are." Takeda said, putting a reassuring hand on Miho's shoulder.

"Thanks sir." Miho said, wiping away a few tears. "I've always been one to put the safety of my teammates over anything else, including winning a match. To suddenly lose four teammates and not being able to do a thing about rescuing them? It's been hard to maintain my composure." She said, sniffling slightly.

"I can ima-" Caldwell began to say before suddenly a piercing shriek rent the air. "INCOMING!" Someone shouted in alarm.

Miho's eyes widened in alarm as she heard the noise. Artillery was coming in and coming in _hard._ "GET TO COVER!" she shouted in alarm, before the second time that day she went scrambling to get under a tank, this time her Panzer IV. Then their was an ear-shattering _boom_ as a shell ripped into the ground. Multiple explosions one after another ripped through the air as each shell impacted and promptly exploded, tearing large craters into the ground. Several times the explosions came unsettling close to the Panzer but then after what seemed like an eternity the explosions letup and then ceased.

Slowly, Miho crawled out from under her Panzer IV and grimaced. Several buildings had been severely damaged and were now burning or utterly flattened, the road and surrounding field had been turned into a moonscape, several tanks had lost their tracks, including the Jagdpanther, there was Erika screaming, but it was out of frustration, thankfully.

"Christ, what was that?" Miho asked, shaking as she tried to calm her nerves down.

"From the sounds of it, those were 120mm mortar rounds, which means that there is most likely a battery of Chinese PLL-05 self-propelled gun-mortars, possibly somewhere within nine or ten kilometers. Luckily they didn't hit anything important, having a 120mm Mortar round drop on you is like having a 155mm artillery shell drop on you just because of the amount of explosive that it has. Still, considering that they didn't bombard us that long, only two minutes, it seems like they are just blind-firing at the moment. Probably the Chinese we sent scurrying. We should get moving soon, before they get lucky." Takeda said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Miho nodded in agreement. "Is everyone fueled up and ready to go?" She called out to her company.

"We're ready. We finished fueling the Tiger P just before the mortars," came the still slightly panicked reply from Nakajima.

"We won't be able to get going until we get our tracks back up! AGAIN!" Poor Ritako. She must be incredibly tired of replacing the tracks.

"Get on it!" Miho called before looking around and seeing to her dismay that one of the Type 89s had lost both its tracks.

"Don't worry. We'll take this opportunity to scout for any spotters in the area." Caldwell was turning out to be quite the professional, then again he was an _actual_ soldier.

Miho nodded. "If you want me to, I can release the Luchs as well to help in that endeavour, it's small and fast. Plus it can outrun most threats that decide to chase it." she said.

Caldwell looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. "No, as much as I would want to like to. There is simply no place for schoolgirls, particularly high-schoolers on the _real_ battlefield. Mainly because it's just so incredibly dangerous." He said.

That's when Maho whose Tiger was nearby looked up and stated with a crisp sharpness that even Miho hadn't heard from her before said. "Captain, the way I see it, you don't have enough resources to reliably be able to both hold this town and go looking for artillery spotters. You need every asset you can get." she said sharply sounding a lot like her mother, in that one moment.

"Well, I suppose that you can handle yourselves, but I stand by my point. We're going to be hunting, potentially killing any spotters. I don't want you to go through that, if I can avoid it. Up to now, you've had to fight. I understand that. But, if you don't have to, I won't let you." Caldwell said, with a steely look in his eye.

"With all due respect, I don't give a fuck about that. We've already been forced to end lives today. My tank is personally responsible for the destruction of three ZTD-03s and two ZBD-03Bs, plus several infantrymen. But let me tell you right now, I am _beyond_ pissed with the Chinese right now, if there is anyway I can help in kicking the Chinese off the home islands I am going to help, no matter what." Himi growled angrily. She was definitely angry, but Caldwell was resolute.

"And you think I haven't? I've not only killed several Chinese today, I've also tried to reach over to tell a squadmate something, only to find that his face isn't where it used to be! You may think that you've had it bad, but I've seen things that would make today seem like another day at school for you. Stay. Here. This is not a request." Caldwell growled.

"Girls, despite the fact that you want to do anything to help your country which is a noble act. It's just, you actually don't know what to look for when comes to hunting spotters, especially with modern technology. You're used to outdated warfare, and you don't even need to bother with infantry techniques. You also don't have the equipment for it. To put it simply, you just don't have the proper capabilities or experience. Now, you guys curb-stomping Chinese tanks in tank-on-tank combat despite your massive technological disadvantage? I actually believe that, mainly because well you do tank-on-tank warfare for fun and a lot more frequently than regular troops like us. Something tells us that in the right environment, even something like a Type-10 could likely get trounced by you guys. However, you have no experience in Combined-arms warfare. So sadly, Captain Caldwell is correct in that standing, this is simply non-negotiable." Takeda said holding up his hands.

That's when suddenly Saori spoke up. "We don't have time to search for artillery spotters! I just picked up a message, probably by sheer dumb luck, but it states that there are elements of the 193rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade heading this way! Captain, I have to ask; how big of a force is that?" She said.

"How big? Way too damn big for us to fight-off and win that's what." Caldwell growled angrily.

"Tracks are fixed!" Ritako shouted. "For everyone. We need to go!" Takeda shouted. "We're moving out, right now!"

Everyone scrambled to their vehicles. Within moments the thundering roar of diesel, gasoline, and turboshaft engines coming to life filled the air. "All panzers, let's get to Niigata!" Miho shouted and with a deafening roar, twenty-eight WWII era tanks, one 70s era MBT, three 80s era IFVs, and a bunch of Strykers lurched into motion.

" _All tanks, this is Captain Caldwell. Fall in between our vehicles, we'll get you there safely."_

" _Captain, no disrespect or anything but to be fair, our tanks actually have more armor than your Infantry Fighting Vehicles, but you do that. You're negating a big advantage, mainly because we are restricted to the top speed of the slowest vehicle in our group. In this case it's only 40 kilometers per hour because of the Tiger Porsche. So, how about we send the Luchs out as a recon vehicle. When we entered Nota and started our little ruse, we only found about the occupying Chinese forces because of the Luchs."_ Maho said over the radio.

" _Damnit! You got a major point there, shit! I had no idea the Tiger Porsche was that slow, this could be trouble."_ Caldwell hissed as he realized just how slow some of the Sensha-dou vehicles were.

" _Hey, we once managed to catch up to M26E2 Pershings that were running flatout and Leopon weighs in at nearly sixty tons. But we can't do it for long sprints else the engine and transmission blow-up spectacularly, and we don't have time to do something like that followed by a rebuild of the_ two _engines this thing has and it's transmission."_ Nakajima said over the radio.

" _I remember seeing that! That was crazy! I swear I have never seen a Tiger move so fast before. That must have surprised those UST Pershings real good, but I have to ask how did you managed to do that?"_ Takeda asked.

" _How? Well, while there are regulations regarding the internal combustion engines on Sensha-dou tanks, meaning we can't do any sort of modifications that involve parts that were produced past August 19th, 1945. Those same regulations_ don't _say anything about electric motors. We've upgraded this baby with modern industrial grade electrical motors, they are powerful enough that we have them governed, actually. We have a small red button on the dashboard that when we press it, it unhooks the governors."_ Nakajima explained.

" _Well, that's not fair at all."_ Caldwell sounded disappointed, but impressed.

" _It's not against the rules, so we can get away with it. But we only let the powerful motors we have in Leopon unwind when we_ absolutely _need to get somewhere in a big hurry and the engines and transmission is optional."_ Nakajima announced, which earned a hearty laugh from one of the Stryker drivers.

" _Anyway, back on track. I do see your point, very well. You have my permission to release the Luchs for scouting."_ Takeda said. Caldwell tried to overrule him, but Takeda said that the Luchs was devilishly quick, particularly if it's tiny engine had been given something like a turbocharger, because it would be able to in most cases if it got a head's start outrun most of the vehicles that the Chinese military uses.

" _...Fine. What's our route?"_ Why, one would almost think that Caldwell was unhappy with the reality of the situation. Then again the Stryker Combat Vehicle was blazing fast machine with a top speed of ninety-seven kilometers per hour and a range of 500 kilometers and even with the Type 89 IFVs, those things had a top speed of seventy kilometers per hour, but the old Type 74 only had a top speed of at least sixty kilometers per hour. By comparison forty kilometers per hour was a snail's pace. Almost like old battlecruisers. Speed was their armor and thus going as slow as they were, it was, in Caldwell's mind, probably a good way to die via HEAT.

"Since the Chinese we got to leave Nota went to the east, that route is out. Hona, any ideas?"

" _We could take the 552 north, it runs all the way up to Hori, then ends on the 73. It's the same road we need to be on anyway, just further to the west than where we intended."_ Ritako said, relaying what Hona had said.

"I am happy with that, alright. Let's head in that direction. PANZER VOR!" Miho said.

" _...What?"_ Oh, right. Caldwell probably wouldn't get it. This would be a good time as ever to explain what their plan had been. So, Miho explained in depth what their plan had been when it came to getting to Niigata. When she was finished, Caldwell whistled. " _Now, that's damn impressive. And your thinking is definitely quite brilliant actually. Mainly because knowing that your vehicles are slow and you need roughly a straight shot to get to Niigata. That plan makes a lot of sense, because you're avoiding as many interchanges and major population centers as possible, thus drastically lowering the chance that you will encounter the enemy. I mean, it's certainly a ten for brilliance."_ He said. " _But, I'm still confused. Panzer_ what _?"_

Miho resisted the urge to facepalm. It was deja vu, all over again. "It's Panzer Vor, Captain. It's German, it means Tanks Forward." she said crisply.

" _Oh."_ Caldwell replied. " _Well, whatever. Time to roll out, I guess."_

Despite the tense situation, Miho couldn't help but smile at that. It reminded her of when she first started doing Tankery after she left Kuromorimine, when she had been at Ooarai and the fact that well, she had promised herself to never do Tankery again.

Still the rumble of the engines sounded incredibly soothing, ironically. They went up Route 25 till they reached route 552 and turned onto Route 552 and headed toward route 73 with as much haste as they could. It was an eerie trip. Tractors abandoned in fields, an overturned truck, the contents of the trailer spilled out. And the silence. The quiet atmosphere was stifling, and the only sounds besides her tank and those of her friends were the explosions coming from behind them. It sounds like the Chinese still thought their little 'company' was still in Nota, and was clearing the way for the approaching forces. A larger than usual explosion told her they must have hit the service station they had vacated not long earlier. With a fairly big round too. Still, it was unsettling, had they spent just twenty more minutes in town, they likely would have been caught in that bombardment.

" _Crap, looks like we got out of their just in time."_ Ritako said, echoing Miho's own thoughts; looking back at the multiple plumes of thick black smoke that was beginning to rise from the town of Nato. It was a little heartbreaking, watching those people's homes be destroyed, and probably their livelihood as well. The roads, buildings, even the fields. Nothing was spared by the relentless artillery, it was almost as if the enemy thought they were actually fighting at least a battalion. Instead, their glorified company made their way north, with no sounds other than the distant rumble of artillery, and the rumbles of their own vehicles as company. It only got eerier when the artillery stopped. That was when Yukari got on the radio.

"It's okay, everyone. It's just what's called an 'acoustic shadow.' Even though we're only a few miles away, obstacles are interfering with the sound of the artillery." And, as they rounded another bend, they discovered she was right. The sight of the town being hammered into the rubble would be with them for the rest of their lives.

For most of the time, the trip up Route 552 toward Route 73 wasn't all that bad. Along the way however they saw a large number of aircraft, at least fifty, begin fly overhead, heading toward Niigata at high-speeds. "Captain! What are those?" Miho asked.

" _Those are probably Xian H-6s, Chinese Strategic Bombers, they can carry 9,000 pounds of ordnance in terms of free-fall bombs, our Stingers or Javelins won't reach that high up. I pity the poor bastards who are going to get pasted by them."_ Caldwell replied grimly, he himself looking up at the Chinese bombers as they powered toward Niigata.

That's when twenty or so new aircraft appeared from different directions and from out of the clouds, just ten seconds later all hell broke loose in the skies. " _Give them hell boys!"_ Takeda said as enemy planes began to drop from the skies, coming under fierce attack from the planes of the JASDF (Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces). It was almost pitiful in the terms of the defense, there simply weren't enough escorting fighters to fend off the JASDF fighters and as they swarmed the enemy. The surviving bombers, panicking suddenly dumped their loads and dove for the deck, with several JASDF fighters in hot pursuit.

Dozens possibly hundreds of thousands of pounds of bombs slammed into the countryside just a few miles away. The bombers pulled out of their dives and went into a thundering turn, frantically trying to get away from at least twelve F-3 Shinden IIs that were after them. The JASDF Fighters came in from high and above the bombers, easily avoiding the defensive fire and tearing into the planes. As they watched, one bomber had almost it's entire wing ripped off by a missile, the bomber tumbled out of the sky and slammed into the ground and simply exploded.

" _Wow, the flyboys up there are hating on the elderly. Those planes have gotta be older than I am."_ Leave it to Caldwell to have a one-liner.

" _To be fair Captain, the PLAAF's Strategic Bomber force,_ sucks _. Those things_ are _older than you in terms of design. Xian H-6s are based on the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger'."_ Takeda replied.

Then suddenly the fighters broke-off as the bombers turned tail and ran for their lives. As they did that one fighter suddenly jerked in the midair and then simply came apart, the craft trailing fire and smoke crashed hard into the ground where it promptly exploded into greasy fireball. The surviving bombers only about twelve or so, with several trailing smoke sped away and disappeared over the horizon.

The whole thing had taken less than twelve minutes from start to finish. It had been brutal air-to-air combat, nothing more and nothing less. Still, it had been relieving for some reason to see friendly forces kick the absolute shit out of the invaders. Possibly because they hadn't seen defense forces so much as fighting a single Chinese soldier. Still, their bombs had probably landed on people's rice fields and in the forests, possibly even on towns. Long trails of black smoke descended from the heavens into the ground, marking the death dives of aircraft, mostly bombers but a few fighters as well that had been shot down.

Floating serenely above the carnage, gently gliding down towards the ground were several parachutes, each parachute represented a downed airman or crewman from the fighters and bombers that were shot down in the frantic air battle they had just seen.

"Miporin, you know, I've been feeling like this has been rather difficult. I am not ready to fight in a real war. I don't think I will ever be able to fire the MG that's in front of me in anger at another living person." Saori said, her voice shaking slightly.

"It's alright Saori-san, I don't think I will be able to fire my pistol or the cupola mounted MG 42 at another person. Aircraft? Most certainly, but people? I doubt it." She said grimly, she glanced behind her at the KV-85 following like a loyal puppy. It's powerful DShk HMG was swinging with every bounce in the road. The commander of said Heavy Tank was constantly looking around, scanning for threats to the tank.

" _Kommandant, we are coming up on the junction now. No sign of enemy activity. Turning onto route 73 now, it's clear."_ Himi said briskly.

" _Roger, maintain recon, role. "_ Caldwell ordered sharply.

" _Hai!"_ Himi replied just before the line went dead, there was a rumble as the Luchs powerful engine began to power it forward.

The rest of the trip toward Route 73 was uneventful. " _Interchange in sight!"_ The commander of the Type 74 MBT announced as they approached.

Suddenly with a screaming roar. Something crashed right into the side of the Type 74 MBT, it jerked violently to one side, while it's hull erupted like a fiery volcano. The turret was sent flying off the powerful vehicle as if it weighed nothing. " _Contact! Contact!"_ Takeda shouted over the radio.

"All tanks! Traverse! Traverse! Backup into the woods! Load HE! Put down covering fire!" Miho shouted in alarm. Mako rapidly traversed the tank. "Up and clear!" Yukari yelled as the breach slammed shut.

"Firing!" Hana barked and then the gun kicked back and spat it's projectile out. As did several other vehicles, glowing red tracers slammed into the ground. Plumes of dirt erupted skyward as the shells detonated. In response several bright flashes answered and shells screamed by the rapidly backing up allied vehicles.

" _Contact! ZTZ-59G! Put the bastard out of his misery, fire!"_ The commander of the MGS shouted. The powerful 105mm gun fired and it vomited a shell toward something, but their was no bright flash or thundering _boom_ signalling a destroyed vehicle. " _Aw crap."_

There were more bright flashes and something probably a HEAT round slammed into the Mobile Gun System and blew it apart like a plastic toy. " _Shitfuck! All IFVs and Strykers! Once you get into the woods, dismount your infantry!"_ Caldwell shouted over the radio.

* * *

 _500 meters away from the Allied Units_

 **38th Combined Arms Warfare Team**

 **The Golden Bears**

" _Multiple contacts, commander. They are retreating into the woods!"_ The voice of the commander of one of the ZTZ-59s growled. Bad enough they ran into an enemy force that wasn't supposed to be there, now they had to chase them down.

Still, it was weird, the Strykers, Type 89 IFVs, and the Type 74 MBT had been moving slower than usual. Plus, earlier they had seen a Kuromorimine Panzer II Ausf. L go through the crossroads, so what was going on? These were some of the questions that were going through the mind of Commander of the Chinese unit as he ordered his tanks and IFVs to commence a heavy bombardment of the treeline where the enemy had retreated.

"All machines, commence operations against the enemy. Don't let a single one escape!" the commander growled, as he said that the eight ZTZ-59Gs and fourteen ZTD-03s volleyed their big guns, 125mm and 105mm shells streaked down range, multiple plumes of earth erupted skyward as the shells landed. Then over a dozen flashes erupted followed by a wild stream of mandarin curses from one of his tank commanders. It would seem that the enemy might actually know what they are doing, considering they had likely just heavily damaged one of his tanks.

"Tank three, what's your status?" He asked over the radio.

" _Gun damaged, elevation gears damaged, we've lost both of our tracks, and the turret is jammed! Feels like we just got hit by a goddamned hailstorm here, we are completely combat ineffective, unless you want us to start shooting with our MGs!"_ The commander of tank three hissed angrily. The commander had heard reports of tanks, by that failure, Fang, but had written them off as nonsense. How could ancient tanks crewed by children hope to defeat modern armor? They must have properly trained adults instead. That is until his tank jerked angrily and a loud _wham_ resounded through the fighting compartment. Or maybe not, that was one hell of a hit they just took and the savage beating that tank three had just received.

"Commander! Contact! It's a Panther Tank!" his gunner shouted as his tank shook violently again, it's armor stopping another hit cold. The hits certainly weren't 120mm but they could be 105mm judging by the sound alone.

He peered through his viewports and quickly spotted the tank, as he watched a shell slammed into it's gun mantle, but due to the insane sloping and angling the shot gouged an enormous section of steel right out of the gun mantle, the tank fired one more shot before falling back into the woods. He watched the shell raced forward and tore into into one of his ZTDs and knocked it out of action, ripping it's chassis apart with ease. Flames quickly began to lick out of the ruined machine, while the lone surviving crew member bailed out.

"All ZTDs report in." the commander growled. The following report he got wasn't great, two ZTDs had been hit and the others had their crews severely rattled. That was when _something_ hit one, and it opened like a can. A rocket, there was the trail. Damnit, the enemy had an ATGM vehicle, probably from one of the Type 89s or possibly one of the Strykers.

"Backtrack that smoke trail! Load HEAT!" he growled, there was a heavy clang as the loader slammed a shell into the breach. "UP!" The loader had done his job, but the gunner was another story.

"Sir, the dense vegetation makes it difficult to acquire a target. I can't see enough of the enemy vehicles to get a good target picture."

"Damnit! Fire on that smoke trail!" commander hissed angrily. "If you say so. Here goes nothing, on the way!" The gunner growled and he stomped on the firing pedal. A huge reverberating _boom_ shook the tank as the 125mm gun spat it's lethal projectile and was rewarded with an enormous explosion. "GOT HIM!" The gunner cheered as something exploded violently as the HEAT round impacted.

Then it seemed that whoever was shooting at them decided that they really wanted to make their job difficult. For multiple gun flashes appeared in the forest, then shells landed in front of his tank and released thick clouds of white smoke, which further obscured what he could see. Damn, well that made his life more interesting.

"All tanks move forward!" the commander growled.

* * *

Hidden in the thick copse of trees, Miho and company were terrified at what they had encountered. They had lost three vehicles within a matter of moments, the Type 74 MBT, the MGS, and a Type 89 IFV. " _Tank eight, everyone alright in their?"_ Maho asked frantically. The Panther had taken a brutal beating and had now lost a large part of its gun mantle thanks to a Chinese Spike Munition.

" _Hai! We are, just rattled."_ The commander of said Panther replied.

" _Well this sucks! We've lost our MBT, one of our two tank destroyers, and one of our IFVs."_ Takeda hissed angrily.

" _Heads up, they are coming out!"_ Maho said over the radio. Miho glanced through her viewports and saw that yes, the Chinese were advancing out of the smoke, the massive gun tubes on their tanks swinging menacingly. "Load AP! Target enemy armor!" She shouted.

Yukari was already in action, grabbing a fresh AP shell and slamming it home. "Ready up!" She announced. Miho waited several seconds for Hana to finish rotating the turret and picking a target. "UTE!" She barked.

The gun barrel on the Panzer IV Ausf. H spat it's lethal payload. The spike round blitzed toward it's target at a little over Mach 4 and punched through the ZTZ-59G's lower glacis. The tank came to a stuttering halt its transmission and driver dead. Which funnily enough was one of the more subtle variations of an enemy tank taking a penetrating hit directly.

The several tanks that were targeted by Panthers and Jagdpanzer IVs simply erupted into fire and smoke if they were penetrated. The same was true for the lone Tiger and Jagdpanther as well as one of the Panther IIs. Sadly the Porsche Tiger, Valentine, Hetzer, StuG, Chi-Nu, P 26, and KV-85 either missed, failed to penetrate their target, or hit and penetrated but failed to score a crippling hit.

The remaining ZTZ-59Gs, continued forward, four in all. They aimed and fired their main guns. One shell blazed right past the Panzer IV and snapped a tree in half effortlessly. The other shell, utterly obliterated a Stryker Personnel Carrier, the vehicle simply detonated as it's front end was twisted into unrecognizable scrap metal.

Suddenly eight massive plumes of earth erupted as enemy ZTDs opened fire and hurled shells down range. Then as if to insult them and further pin them in place, shells shrieked in and mortar bombs started dropping from the sky, rocking the tanks and pinning the infantry in place. " _FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! THIS IS BAD!"_ Caldwell snarled, the mic buzzing into static as a Jagdpanzer IV discharged it's lethal payload.

"Don't worry, Captain. I got a plan!" Miho barked out over the radio over the _thunderous_ bombardment that they were now receiving. " _Well what the hell is it called and how do we execute it?!"_ Caldwell growled.

" _Oh boy, better hang onto your helmet Captain. Because our life is about to get interesting._ Very interesting. _What's your plan Nishizumi?"_ Takeda said with the barest hint of a snicker in his voice.

"It's called Operation: Doppelganger and it's details are…" Miho said.

* * *

The commander looked around the interior of his MBT and grimaced. While the tank hadn't outright blown up. It had taken quite a lot of damage, maybe Fang was right after all. Even museum pieces can pack a punch, if they have the right ammo and they knew where to aim.

"Alright, looks like our artillery is beginning to range in on them. Let's take the gloves off. All tanks advance!" he growled with glee. With a stuttering _thud_ followed by a horrendous grinding noise, the ZTZ-59G lurched into motion, he made a mental note to have the driver check the status of the engine and transmission, that hit likely did a lot of damage.

Then ten seconds later, all hell broke loose as enemy vehicles charged out of the treeline, guns blazing. Infantry right behind them, throwing grenades, smoke and otherwise.

"Cào nǐ zǔ zōng shí bā dài. Back up, back up!" the commander shouted in alarm as the enemy went on the offensive unexpectedly, leading the charge however was a very familiar looking tank, a World War II era medium, one that he had seen on TV before several times, one that well had a crazy as _dìyù_ commander one who also knew _exactly_ what she was doing.

"Tā mā de wǒ dì shíbā dài, we are so incredibly screwed!" the commander whispered as the brown Panzer IV Ausf. H went blazing past, putting a shot into Tank two as it did so. The ZTZ-59G simply erupted like a fiery volcano, it's turret was hurled into the air like a toy.

"Lā shǐ! Traverse the turret! Traverse! Traverse!" he screeched as the Panzer IV swung around, it's gun pointing right at his tank's exhaust vent. The tank began to swing around and thus the shot from the Panzer IV missed. However in his panic to get the gun and the front of his tank pointed at the Panzer IV, he didn't notice the Jagdpanzer 38(t) on his flank until the thing fired, scored a hit, and it's shot penetrated and thus causing all hell to break loose inside the fighting compartment.

A blur of motion tore through the hull, the tank seemingly leaped to one side as fragments tore through the side of the tank. "Mǔqīn tā mā de! Report!" he screamed.

"We're hit! Driver's dead!" The gunner screamed and the loader moaned in pain, most of the man's legs were simply gone. The ZTZ-59G then lurched forward as an ear-shattering boom filled the fighting compartment and thick black smoke began to pour in. "Wǒmen shì huǒ!" The gunner yelled in alarm as the interior began to heat-up drastically.

"BAIL OUT!" the commander roared, before opening the commander's hatch and heaving himself out of the tank. Sure enough the vehicle was on fire, flames were roaring out of the back end of the tank. He leaped jumped on top of the turret and then promptly jumped, he tucked into a roll and came up on his feet.

That's when something amusing happened. The last remaining ZTZ-59G that was still alive in his force was _running away_ at full tilt, with an _M3 Lee_ in hot pursuit. That's when he realized, that poor tank's turret must had been jammed, that didn't stop the commander of the tank however from shooting at the Lee that was chasing them with the 12.7mm machine gun that was for use against aircraft and helicopters, not that it had a chance of penetrating the M3 from the front. He had to admire the Commander's fortitude, however. Even if it was pointless and futile in terms of actually knocking the thing out. However the ZTZ-59G was a good deal faster than an M3 Lee and was thus pulling away from the medium tank, that's when a missile screamed past and nailed the MBT full in the side, the explosion ripped the turret right off the tank.

The commander just put his head in his hands, it had all been going so well. That's when the ZBDs appeared, guns blazing. 30mm autocannon shells cut intricate geometries through the air as they slashed toward their opponents. The Lee barely managed to get it's frontal armor pointed at the IFVs in time. Shells crashed into it's frontal armor, chipping away the paint at alarming speed and abrading through the armor. It's two guns boomed in response. One shot went way wide and missed but the other round just about ripped a turret in half on one of the ZBDs.

The Panzer IV that had been partly responsible for knocking his tank out of actions swung around, easily tanking shots from thirty millimeter autocannons. It's cannon boomed once, twice, three times and three ZBDs out of twelve simply exploded into fireballs. That's when another vehicle appeared, a Jagdpanzer IV, the thing looked like someone had removed the turret of the Panzer IV and gave it a really big gun. It's gun boomed, sounding more like a 85mm or a 90mm, than it did in matches. They must have been firing modern live ammunition out of the barrel, which thanks to the barrel length which was on par with modern MBT gun barrels, the 75mm spike round came screaming out of the barrel at Mach 5, the round cored right through the front of a ZBD and then right out the back. The IFV lurched to a halt, and the gunner and commander bailed out, or at least the commander did; he had to help the gunner out of the vehicle.

Several streams of autocannon fire reached out toward the ZBDs. As the American and Japanese IFVs finally joined fray. Their 30mm and 35mm autocannons blazing sending streams of hot red tracers toward their opponents, while the ZBDs returned fire, angry green tracers lashed out from their autocannons, turning the battle into a scene straight out of Star Wars. It was crazy, shells were flying in every direction.

A Type 89 came to a stuttering halt, smoke and flames beginning to billow from it's engine and crew compartment. It's hull utterly riddled with holes of the 30mm variety. No one managed to bailout of that machine before it turned into an inferno.

Still, something told him, that now would be a good time to cut his losses and escape. As if to prove that fact a ZTD appeared, it's commander looked at him right in the eyes. "Get on Commander!" The man shouted, then a burst of machine gun fire cut across the front of the tank, dimpling it's armor. Without even thinking, he ran to the ZTD-03, and clambered onto the tank. His gunner right behind him.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He ordered and the ZTD lurched into motion. "All remaining operational Golden Bear units pull out. We can't win against the enemy, their tactics are counter-intuitive to everything we've been taught, pull out." He said, before looking at the Panzer IV Ausf. H, he could actually see the Commander of the tank looking right at him through a pair of binoculars, knowing that he had been defeated by an opponent that was far superior in creative thinking, that and his own damn overconfidence. He did the one thing that made the most sense to him, he gave that commander a salute.

* * *

Miho started in shock as the Chinese Unit commander judging by his rank insignia _saluted_ her. "You alright, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, I am fine. The enemy commander just saluted me." Miho said, in stunned amazement. Clearly not sure how to react to that, so she decided to look around and promptly frowned. While her tactic of suddenly charging all guns blazing had worked, it had still been rather costly. Both of the two remaining Type 89s had been knocked out and were now wreathed in flames and smoke. Three of the Dragoons had also been knocked out in the intense action. At least the TOW armed Stryker had survived, that thing now had the majority of their anti-tank firepower.

Caldwell was walking nearby and he turned over a dead Chinese infantryman. " _Christ, this was an elite Chinese Combined Arms Warfare Group, one that's a member of the Chinese Summer Dragon Special Mission Force! These guys are on par with the Russian Federation's Spetsnaz Guard Brigades, or the European Federation's Enforcer Corps, or America's Joint Strike Force. These guys are the absolute best of the best that the Chinese PLA has to offer. Their airborne troops use older tanks because of weight limits, but thanks to that they can be airdropped right into a hot zone!"_ Caldwell announced in shock over the radio.

" _What do you mean that they are the best of the best? And that they are on par with the Joint Strike Force, the Enforcer Corps, or the Spetsnaz Guard Brigades?"_ Erwin asked.

" _That's exactly what I mean. A unit like this, they can give an entire Armored Brigade Combat Team a run for it's money if it's a regular military unit and play the kick-the-can with Infantry Brigade Combat Teams and certainly make life near impossible for Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. The only units that can fight them on an even footing are other Special Mission Forces, the JSF, EFEC, and the SGB. They have superior equipment and training then the regular PLA does."_ Caldwell explained.

" _Holy goddamn, you mean we just beat the crap out of a unit that the only thing that is more elite than them are actual Special Forces?"_ Koume asked stunned.

" _It would seem like it. Damn, I bet the Chinese Theater command is going to_ love _hearing how a force that can easily be beaten by probably an equal sized force beat the crap out of a Chinese SDSF combat team, particularly considering what it's composition was."_ Caldwell chortled.

" _Captain, the reason that we managed to defeat the enemy, was because of the fact that they got over confident and advanced toward our position and were expecting us to panic and go into a full blown retreat and to not charge at them. Since it was the most illogical decision that anyone in our situation could have done. Granted, you have to know that when you are dealing with Miho, having surprises that may seem illogical at first until you think about it from a different point of view. Then it all makes sense."_ Maho said over the radio.

Takeda laughed over the link. " _So, I have to ask. What's your opinion about how Ooarai took down the Maus during the finals in the 63rd annual tournament?"_ He asked.

Maho was silent for several seconds before speaking. " _When I first heard the report of how they got taken out. I couldn't believe it. Mainly because I expected it to simply get detracked and thus immobilizing it for the rest of the match. But, when I heard of the tactic that Ooarai had used to knock it out of action. I was beyond impressed, mainly because it's the only real strategy that considering Ooarai's firepower, could use to completely knock the Maus out."_ Maho said, with a definite undertone of being impressed in her voice.

Miho blushed. "Impressive? It was more like frantic attempt to salvage the match. I mean, it's possible to knock the Maus out with a shot-trap that sends a shell into the top of the hull. But it's damn near impossible to do and I had Hana try several times, but it's one of those one million shots that I doubt that any of the best snipers in the High School circuit could pull off. University? Their might be one or two who _could_ do it but not reliably." She said.

" _Frantic or not, it was a brilliantly executed plan, one that I am certain other schools are trying to copy so they could also easily take out the Maus."_ Takeda said.

" _Still, we got a major problem here. We've lost all of our Type 89 IFVs and three of our Dragoons. We don't have the capacity to carry all of the infantry anymore. Now what do we do?"_ Caldwell asked.

" _I have an idea."_ Erika said.

" _I am listening."_ Caldwell replied.

" _You know how during World War II, tanks would often have infantry ride on them?"_ Erika asked.

" _Yeah, I do. What are you proposing?"_ Caldwell replied, sounding a little nervous.

" _Well, I was thinking. We might as well use that ability again. Since well, our tanks can carry infantry in a pinch."_ Erika stated.

" _I guess we don't have much of a choice now, do we? Alright, let's go with that."_ Takeda said.

Thus what happened next, was something that would be more at home on the World War II era Battlefield and not the modern one. However given the circumstances, it was something that needed to happen and thus when they next moved out. The surviving infantry was split evenly between riding on the tanks and riding in the Strykers. The sight was more than a little strange, but they continued on, getting onto route 73 and began heading toward Sochi and Route 8 which was their next major interchange on the route.

As they proceeded along the road, Miho found herself thinking about how they could have been utterly wiped out. How that, if the enemy hadn't been so shocked by their maneuver that had allowed them to close the distance so handily, they would have been slaughtered as effortlessly as Chi-ha-tan was whenever they did one of their reckless charges right into the teeth of superior firepower. Most if not all of them would have died and a lot of families who have been devastated due to the loss of their children. Worse, it would have been all her fault, something that she would, if she had survived that was, never been able to live with at all.

As they rumbled along. Miho noted that the remaining Strykers were actually letting the tanks take point, despite the fact that they couldn't take a hit worth a damn, but then again the same could be said about the Strykers. Still, one thing that told Miho that what was likely going to happen, was that they were going to lose the remaining Strykers before the day was out. Which was something that was likely bound to happen, but granted it was war. On the bright side, they were moving again, this time with infantry on board, which made her shake her head. "Life just gets stranger and stranger." she muttered.

* * *

 _Location Unknown_

 _2045_

"So, you want to know about to know about their tactics?" A man asked as he shook his head. He was wearing clothes that weren't fit for a war veteran, but would be more at home on a businessman or high-ranking member of the government. He was sitting in an office that was in a skyscraper, a large city spread out to the horizon beyond the window.

"Well, while I can't speak for everyone that they faced. I can certainly speak for how my experience against them went." He stated. "We had them on the ropes, I could tell. Our artillery had them, at least _I_ thought, that it had them pinned down. I was expecting them to fall back, retreat deeper into the woods. Then they did the craziest thing I had ever seen, they actually _charged_. It was a maneuver I wasn't expecting at all. It caught me off guard and thus, at a critical point, I failed to give out the right orders. Thus it allowed them to get within brawling range and easily dispatch eight ZTZ-59Gs, fourteen ZTD-03Cs, and twelve ZBD-03Cs. Plus routing the infantry. They completely decimated my unit. Had I given out the correct orders, everything might have gone better, well for my unit at least." He said, his voice containing sorrow for those under his command who he had lost.

"It wasn't until later I found out that I had been facing the two children of the Nishizumi lineage. I wonder, if I had known that then, would I have acted differently?" He said, looking nostalgic.

* * *

 **AN: We know, we know. Once again our heroes curb-stomp a Chinese Military Unit with no losses to the tankery teams. But, trust us, it won't be all peaches and cream. There will be chapters where it seems everything goes straight into the crapper. But you wouldn't believe the amount of research we are doing in order to get this story as realistically accurate as possible, well apart from the fact that it does take place in the Girls Und Panzer Universe.**

 _ **By the power of Armor Angling, nobody died. This time. I doubt my Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles book has gotten this much use since I bought it.**_

 **Translations:**

 **Cào nǐ zǔ zōng shí bā dài: Fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation**

 **Tā mā de wǒ dì shíbā dài: Fuck me to the eighteenth generation**

 **Dìyù: Hell**

 **Lā shǐ: shit**

 **Mǔqīn tā mā de: Mother fucker**

 **Wǒmen shì huǒ: We are on fire!**

 **Also don't forget to review!**


	4. The Road to Niigata Part 2

**AN: Howdy folks, here we are with another chapter for Girls Und Panzer Legends. In this chapter, we are now really getting into the meat of the trip to Niigata. Anything you wish to add Baron?**

 _ **I don't think my reference books have gotten this much use in years. I've been going through the whole list. Rifles And Machine Guns, Tanks And Armored Fighting Vehicles, Pistols And Submachine Guns, and even the Chemistry of Powder And Explosives. There will be more, from some unusual places. Also, yes, this fic is the trope "Museum Piece" writ large. But, you know what? I'm okay with this.**_

 **Still, this time it will be a good deal darker than past chapters.**

* * *

 _December 21st, 2025_

 _1235 Hours_

 _Ooarai/Kuromorimine Combined Armored Group_

 _Currently enroute to Niigata_

The sound of caterpillar tracks clattering against tarmac filled the air as the twenty-eight tanks that both Ooarai and Kuromorimine had, with several Strykers in tow made their way toward Niigata and relative safety. Still everyone was unbuttoned and had, with the exception of the driver -because they had to keep their eyes on the road- their heads on a swivel.

The driver and machine gunner/radio operator for one of the Panthers. Mainly the one being commanded by Koume, the two crew members were having an interesting discussion. "I am just saying, I wish that the Panther had an escape hatch mounted in the bottom of the hull." The radio operator, a 2nd year by the name of Sazama Fusa said.

"But, I like the Panther a lot better. It has better frontal and side armor than the Sherman and it has a way better gun. Plus it won't brew up with the efficiency of a Ronson Lighter when it takes a penetrating hit." The driver, a third year named Junko Isa retorted.

"So what? The American Sherman Jumbo has armor on par with with the Panther in terms of regarding the hull front, in fact it's actually superior, plus they have a similar gun. I mean it's no long-barreled eighty-eight, but it's certainly no slouch either. Plus it has that rather useful escape hatch on the bottom of the hull." Sazama replied.

"Maybe, but the Panther has more range than any variant of the Sherman, great armor, and speed on par with _any variant_ of the Sherman. It's an all around _better_ machine than the Sherman." Junko said.

"But the Sherman is better when fighting in close quarters. Remember how the _Elefant_ got knocked out during the finals last year?" Sazama quipped.

"Oh! I will give you that! I mean, it's understandable if you get out-maneuvered by a Sherman or something like that and get knocked out. But getting knocked out by a _fucking_ M3 Lee?! Just how do you screw that up?!" Junko snarled angrily.

"Oh, be fair. Even a Panther would be able to be knocked out in circumstances like that. Its long gun makes it unwieldy in close quarters." Sazama replied.

"You certainly have a point there. Still, the Panther is far superior to the Sherman." Junko stated.

"You know, we can argue about this all day. But the later Sherman models, particularly the Jumbo, certainly are comparable to the Panther." Sazama chirped.

While those two were having their discussion, Koume was having a discussion with one of the American Army soldiers, his name was Gianni Ramirez. He looked just as imposing as the other American soldiers, however instead of the assault rifle that Captain Caldwell was using, he had what appeared to be a variant of the same rifle, but it had a longer barrel, a dual drum magazine, and a bipod. While he still did have the same variety of grenades: fragmentation, smoke, and incendiary; he also had strapped to his back something that appeared to be a rocket launcher or something, but she wasn't sure.

"So, you're a Specialist? Right?" Koume asked nervously. She didn't like the prospect of having real infantry riding on the back of her tank. It was so, unusual; to say the least, mainly because it was something that hadn't been seen since in use on such scale since the Cold War at least, but it did see use today, but it wasn't as widespread as it was back during WWII and the Cold War particularly for the Soviet Union.

"Damn right I am, my main job is to keep the enemy's head down with this baby" he hefted the squad automatic weapon in his hands "or take it off. Plus, in case we encounter incredibly stiff resistance coming from a building or a tank. I can use this thing, and blow it up." he stated patting the rocket launcher strapped to his back.

"I have to ask, but why does your weapon look so similar to Captain Caldwell's Assault Rifle? It's really confusing as to why that is." Koume said nervously.

"Why? That's rather simple miss Akaboshi, my LMG and the Captain's AR are both derived from the same weapon. The M8 Modular Assault Rifle System; it has several variants, or modules really. The baseline carbine, which can have an underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher attached or an underbarrel shotgun, a compact carbine which is basically a Personal Defense Weapon and is thus a lot smaller, a Designated Marksmen Rifle, which has a 4x red scope, an automatic rifle variant although that is only in use in the US Marine Corps, and lastly, what I am using, a heavy barrel automatic with a bipod. The biggest difference between this thing and the old M16s and M4s is not only does it have better modular capability meaning that you can change the configuration of the weapon in a flash for different missions, but it also fires a different round instead of the 5.56x45mm NATO round, which is a good round, but against the heavy body armor that our foes will most likely be using, its performance was found to be lacking. Thus the military decided to adapt a rather unusual cartridge, a wildcat round believe it or not, the 6.8x39mm mainly for logitical reasons because all that you need to fire the 6.8x39 out of an M4 is just a new barrel. Thus we didn't have to design a brand new weapon, which makes everything a lot easier, plus it has better armor penetration capability due to the heavier round." Ramirez said, almost nonchalantly, which earned a nod from the brunette in understanding.

"So, I have to ask, why do you think China has suddenly decided to jump in on the war in Korea?" Koume asked, this was something that she needed to know.

"To be honest? I don't know; hell best reason I can think of is that China, which has been not only modernizing their military extensively for a long-time now, just like Russia, and with the Koreans maneuvering back and forth for years, with no return on their investments, I guess China has finally decided that they are going to do what they are going to do militarily now. They probably intend to fully bring North and South Korea into the fold and to take over Japan and possibly later even Taiwan, a sort of conquer new territory and reclaim old ones." Ramirez stated, although his tone of voice did convey a sense that he had no idea _why_ the Chinese had suddenly invaded; which earned another nod from Koume.

"I'm terrified. I started doing Sensha-dou to simply have fun and now I am being forced to take lives. I am just asking myself, will I be able to live with it? Or will I even live through this?" Koume asked solemnly.

"You know, the fact of the matter is that while having ideals is a good thing, they are almost always peaceful, the sad truth is however is that history is violent. But, this is war and it's unpredictable so it's entirely likely that could happen, that you could die, I could die, we could both lose close friends or even family to this war. The thing is though death in war, it comes in many different varieties, quick and painless or slow and agonizing. It's often said that 'war is hell.' The thing is, that is in some ways war is _worse_ than hell." Ramirez said glumly, obviously sounding sad that they were fighting in a war or at the fact that High Schoolers had been forced to fight in this war, even if it was only in self-defense.

"Now that's reassuring. But, fortunately this won't be the first time I've stared death in the face. But this time, I am wondering, will I be able to make it blink first." Koume vocalized grimly.

Ramirez gave the young commander a surprised look. "You've had a near-death experience? How the hell did that happen!" He questioned, shocked.

Koume simply sighed deeply in response. "If you follow the Japanese High School Sensha-dou tournament closely, you would have heard about it. It happened during the 62nd Sensha-dou Tournament, during the finals. I was a driver at the time, in a Panzer III. The tank I was in was in front of our flag tank, if that tank is immobilized then we lose the match. We got ambushed by two Pravda Girls High School T-34/85s; they each fired one shot at my tank. They both missed, but one shot landed in front of the Panzer and we started slipping. It wasn't helped by the fact that it was raining. The other shot landed right next to the Panzer and sent us sliding down into the river below. Which at the time was a raging torrent having been whipped up by the storm. The tank started to sink almost instantly, plus the tumble down the cliff and entering the river, it had disoriented us all. We couldn't get out of the tank. I thought that was it, I was going to drown inside a metal box. But, our vice-kommandant, Miho Nishizumi saw it happen and decided to do something totally different and against the Nishizumi style. She abandoned her tank, which was the flag tank, in order to come to rescue us. During that time a Pravda T-34/85 knocked out her tank, thus ending the match and Kuromorimine's nine year long championship win streak. If it hadn't been for her though, myself and four others would have died and our Tankery March, Panzerlied, would have taken on an fulfilling note. The final part of the fifth stanza "Battle" version says "Trifft uns die Todeskugel, ruft uns das Schicksal ab, ja, Schicksal ab. Dann wird unser Panzer ein ehernes Grab!" which translates into english "If death's bullet finds us, and fate calls us away, yes, us away. Then our tank shall become an honorable grave!" That final line is repeated twice. After almost dying in a tank, I've never looked at the fifth stanza of the "battle" version the same way since." Koume explained, shuddering at the memory.

"Damn, that is terrifying. If I had been in your position I would have given up on the sport, right then and there. Still, you're wondering whether or not if you can beat death again. Well, if we were in a Final Destination movie, I would safely say that it's _highly_ unlikely you will be able to cheat death a second time." Ramirez said in a bit of a smug tone, earning a round of laughter from the other soldiers who were riding on the Panther.

"That's not helpful _at all_." Koume replied giving the American an angry glare. She hadn't seen the Final Destination movies but she had seen the trailers for those movies. The fact that knowing Death didn't like to be cheated in those films and the fact that eventually he would find a way to claim you, often in a way that was way more gruesome than it would have been otherwise.

Elsewhere in the convoy, Maho Nishizumi was contemplating their whole situation. The fact that they had managed to meet up with real military units, well it was a bit of a relief mainly because they would sacrifice their lives in order to protect them. But, that just wasn't right; she felt that the way things were going, by the end of their ordeal; almost everyone's personality will have been changed so drastically, that it wouldn't even be funny. It would be heart-breaking really. She glanced at the Lee that was driving right in front of her Tiger, and forced herself to remember that if anything, they should focus on making sure that Rabbit Team's tank, didn't engage in combat any more than it had too.

That's when her radio crackled, it was the commander of one of the Dragoons. " _Uh guys. We've suffered a bit of damage here. The engine is starting to knock really bad. uh scratch that the driver just told me that the check engine light has just came on. Wait one. The engine just died. You guys might be forced to abandon us."_ The commander of that vehicle said, as the column came to a stop.

Maho silently counted to three in her head and then sure enough Nakajima's voice came over the radio. " _If we can stop somewhere, preferably at an auto-repair shop we ought to be able to get that thing back in action, besides if we can get our Tiger Porsche running and keep it running, reliably, then repairing a Stryker should be a cakewalk."_ she said, incredibly confident in her ability to repair vehicles.

" _You sure? It takes about an hour to remove the engine, plus whatever time we need to do for repairs, and then about another hour to reinstall the damn thing."_ The commander of that machine replied.

" _Trust us, we can fix it easily. You have no idea how hard it is to keep Leopon in working order."_ Nakajima replied earnestly.

" _It's true, Leopon Team is composed of Ooarai's Automotive Club. To be frank, they can fix just about anything. Including most recently our Type-3's rather temperamental transmission, in fact it was thanks to the transmission that the thing suddenly went into reverse during the finals last year. Hell, last year during the finals, Nakajima actually repaired Leopon when it had it's_ engine running _and she didn't even get cut."_ Miho said, with some of the cheerfulness that Maho knew resided in her sister. But, not the full amount of cheerfulness that she knew her sister had, she doubted that Miho could ever return to that level ever again considering what had happened.

She blamed herself for the deaths of the crew of Ooarai's Type-89B, because _she_ had been the one to order the Luchs that they had deployed to find Ooarai's Tankery Team and alert them about the Chinese invasion. Because of it, she had gotten four young women killed, their spirits sent to _Yomi_ way too early. Not that she regretted warning Miho's team. Had they been ambushed like her team had, the result likely would have been way, way worse than dented armor and chipped paint. A lot more people would have died.

" _Who in their right mind would fix an engine while it's_ running _?!"_ Caldwell asked stunned. That quip earned more than a few stifled giggles over the comm line and even from here eleven tanks back in the column, Maho just _knew_ that Miho was smiling.

" _Why, the automotive club, naturally. One of the crazier things they want to do is they want to try to drift in their Tiger Porsche. Plus, it's not that far fetched either, I mean modern MBTs can do it, but it's really hard on the tracks. Personally, I think that while the Tiger Porsche probably_ could _do it, the transmission will likely blow sky high in the process."_ Miho replied, somewhat cheekily earning a round of laughter from nearly everyone in the column, lightening the mood as they advanced towards Niigata proper, and safety.

But before they could do that, they had to try and repair the damaged Stryker and failing that, destroy it.

* * *

While the automotive club was swarming over the damaged Stryker, trying to find the cause of the problem that had resulted in the engine failing. Lieutenant Takeda needed to do something, mainly because when he had first meet Miho -which was something his daughter would be incredibly jealous over- in Nota, he had noticed that she had been wearing a thigh holster with what appeared to be QSZ-92G inside.

That's when he ran into what appeared to be the loader for Ooarai's KV-85, Tanka he believed her name was. "Oh, hey Lieutenant!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Miss Fuji, it's a pleasure to meet you. Do you have any idea where your commander is?" Takeda asked.

"Miho? Oh, she's probably at her Panzer IV, knowing her she's probably thinking up at least two maybe three different strategies for engaging an enemy force if that happens, I have to ask, why though?" Tanka replied.

Takeda sighed. "I noticed when we were in Nota, that Miho was wearing a pistol in a thigh holster. I was going to give her some shooting lessons, just the basics really posture and such." He said.

Tanka nodded. "It might not look like, but I am something of firearm otaku. Whereas Yukari loves tanks, I love firearms and I have fired them as well. If you want me too, I can tell you exactly what handheld firearms that we have." She said.

"Alright, what do you got for firearms then?" Takeda asked.

"We got a single QBZ-95B-2 Carbine, three QCQ-05 Submachine Guns, and a single QSZ-92G pistol. However we do have a large amount of ammunition for those weapons. Yukari found roughly twelve magazines for the pistol, twenty-four magazines for the submachine guns but since we have three of them we only have eight magazines per SMG thankfully though each magazine holds fifty rounds, and five magazines for the Carbine. I am using the Carbine, Miho has the pistol, and the SMGs are spread out through the rest of us, but I only gave out the SMGs after I told them how to treat it and really nothing else." Tanka said.

"Alright, go and round up everyone who you gave a firearm, we're going to do some practice; I am no drill instructor, but I know my way around a gun and I can teach you proper form." Takeda replied.

Tanka nodded. "Right! I will go get them and tell them to bring their firearms." She said before running off.

Well, that had been easy enough, now he just needed to find some suitable targets. It didn't take him all that long to do so, for he found several plastic jugs in a recycle bin next to the Community Center. Now, all he had to do was wait for Tanka to return from gathering everyone, who had most likely stopped at the grocery store down the street for snacks, and hopefully water.

He didn't have to wait long, thankfully. They were Tankery students, after all. They have a little more order than your average teenager. With everyone who wanted to learn how to shoot present, Takeda began.

"Rule number one. Never, _EVER_ assume that a weapon is unloaded. No matter what. It's always loaded. It's not a toy. It's an instrument designed to destroy. Treat it as such. Everybody needs to understand that."

He gave the dozen or so students a moment to digest that information, then pressed on. "Rule two. It's an instrument of destruction, so don't point it at anything you don't want to destroy. It may seem like I'm coming on strong, but this is probably taking it easy. Now then, any questions yet?"

None, surprisingly enough, so Takeda pressed on. "Rule three. If you think the weapon is safe, it isn't. This means that if you want to carry it, say, while taking a walk, then it's pointed in two places. Straight up, at the sky, or down, towards the ground. That way, if you stumble and accidentally," he eyed everyone assembled, "pull the trigger, it won't hit the person next to you when it goes off. That brings me to our next rule, rule four. Keep that finger off the trigger, unless you are ready to fire. They are sensitive. They go off easily. They can hurt you, or someone you care about, unless you practice proper trigger discipline. I want you all to commit these rules to memory. They are the most important rules for you now. They will keep you safe, and others around you safe. Now, let's move on. Please bring your weapons forward, so I can show you how they work, how to load them, and how to use it properly."

Miho came forward first, deciding to lead by example, plus she was the team commander after all and what sort of commander would she be if she didn't show that she was perfectly willing to do anything that those under her command weren't? She walked up to Takeda and slowly drew her pistol and pointed the thing straight down at the ground. It felt weird holding the thing, their was no doubt that the weapon certainly fit in her hand rather well. But the fact that it had the capability to end someone's life unnerved her. She didn't like it at all.

"All right, let me see the weapon, please." Miho handed it over, butt first, happy that she didn't have to carry it, if only for a short while. Takeda took it, and dropped the magazine, racked the bolt, and released the slide to bring the weapon to an unloaded, prepared state. He reloaded the magazine, and faked loading a round. "All right, give it a try." Takeda said, handing the weapon back to Miho butt first.

Miho took the weapon and walked to a point roughly ten meters away from where a water bottle was on the ground. Takeda helped her sight the weapon, and stepped back. Miho squeezed the trigger, and jumped at the sharp _click_.

"There, see. You would have overcompensated for the recoil, and probably hurt yourself. Hand me the weapon." With the pistol firmly in hand, Takeda chambered a round. "By the time you feel the recoil, the bullet's left the gun, except for shotguns. What you need to do is take your time. You have all the time in the world to take your shot. Take all the time you need. Holdyourbreathlineupyoursightssqueezethetriggersqueezesqueeze" **BANG.** The pistol bucked as a large pulse of fire erupted from the barrel, at the sametime the slide went backwards, ejecting a small dark colored object that was smoking, then the slide went forward again, the water bottle was suddenly on it's side, two decent sized holes in it. "And there you go. The recoil comes after the shot. Squeeze the trigger, don't jerk it. That keeps the weapon on target. And, depending on how you hold your arms, it can negate the recoil somewhat. Okay, Miho, come forward again. I'll help you." Takeda said.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm her rapid-fire heartbeat, she came forward again. Determined to be able to fire that pistol in self-defense without jumping a foot in the air every time. Takeda handed Miho the pistol, butt-first again, and she grasped it, and held it up. That was when she felt arms around her, prompting giggles and 'oohs' from the gathered students behind them. Takeda rolled his eyes, and maneuvered Miho's arms to where she could see the sights. "Can you see the two posts okay?" Miho nodded. "Okay, can you see the one post?" She nodded again. " Now, line the two up so all three posts are the same height. Have you done it?" A third nod. "Now, just like I said. Take your time. Take a breath. Line up your sights. When you're ready to fire, put your finger on the trigger. When you want to fire, just squeeze. Don't jerk the trigger. Squeezesqueezesqueeze" **BANG.** The pistol bucked, and the plastic bottle jumped. A clean hit. A round of applause from the spectators, too.

"Nicely done, Commander. Now, let's do it again."

After Miho finally was able to fire her pistol without flinching, and with a prodigious accuracy, despite her lack of training, Takeda decided to try tackling the hard part. "All right, we are moving on to the hard part. Automatic weapons. This, the QCW-05, is a fully automatic weapon. What this means is that, unlike the pistol Miho demonstrated, the weapon will continue to fire as long as the trigger is held, and until the bullets run out. This, however, leads to a decrease in accuracy. Some of you are used to using machine guns, but those are fixed. There isn't a lot of spread. For shoulder-fired weapons, you don't want to 'spray-and-pray,' because you'll just spray bullets everywhere. Instead, you'll fire in short, controlled bursts. Some people have phrases that they use to time the burst. I'm sure some of you have heard the cliche 'die, motherfucker, die.' For some weapons, that's about long enough, but in this case, it's too long. Try something short, like 'hey, watch this.' that way you fire three maybe four rounds at most, but it allows you to keep the grouping tight. We'll start with semi-automatic fire first, so you get used to long guns first. Everyone with a rifle, step forward. Now, bring your weapons to me, so I can check them."

To Takeda's immense surprise _Azusa_ of all people came forward. She was holding the powerful Chinese SMG in such a way that her fingers were off the trigger and the barrel was pointed straight down, but she carried herself with a sense of determination. She presented her weapon for inspection. Takeda quickly found the magazine release, he engaged it and the magazine slid out, he then checked the magazine and, convinced that it was in good condition, nodded, then sighted the weapon, removed the safety and squeezed the trigger, with a sharp _click_ the weapon dry fired. _Light trigger. Better be careful._ He reinserted the magazine, and chambered a round. _Let's give it a shot. Heh._ He flipped the selector over to semi-automatic, and cycled through three rounds quickly.

"That's the easy part. Just bring the weapon up to your shoulder, tight, or you'll mess it up something fierce. Line the sights, and squeeze. Make sure to hesitate between shots, or the recoil, slight it may be, will throw the shot off. With me so far?" Takeda asked and Azusa nodded in response with a short quick nod. "Excellent. Come give it a try. I'll help you." More giggles. _Really, again?_

Azusa walked over, and took the QCQ back, and shouldered the weapon. Takeda helped to tighten her grip, and better secure it to her shoulder. _At least it came with a good sight, and was zeroed already._ He didn't have to worry about explaining a rail sight to Azusa. "See the little red dot? Point it at the target. Keep your finger off the trigger. I said _off_ the trigger. Now, put the dot on your target. When you're lined up, take a breath. Let it out slowly, and squeeze the trigger when you're ready." Takeda explained and Azusa nodded.

She slowly squeezed the trigger and the SMG let out a thundering shot, the weapon kicked back, the bolt slid back and ejected a spent casing which clattered onto the ground at the same time the bottle spun wildly a good section of it torn away. A few moments later, the bottle flopped over onto it's side. "Nice shot. Again. Try to shoot a little faster, at this one, with some snow in it." Takeda said and Azusa nodded if somewhat shakily, she fired the SMG again, slightly quicker this time and the shot hit the water bottle dead center and it went straight onto it's side.

"Now then, three shots, if you feel up to it. Quick as you can." Takeda said, which caused Azusa to nod and she peered down the sight. The SMG suddenly cracked and a water bottle practically detonated, seven seconds later the SMG fired again and another bottle jerked, and then ten seconds after that the SMG thundered again and yet another bottle jerked before flopping over. "Nice. Your bottle killing skills are remarkable." Takeda couldn't help but snark, like that SAS member he met a long time ago, on maneuvers. "All right, everybody with QCQs, step forward, and check each other's weapons. Once you're assured, give it a try. Same as Azusa." And, as Takeda watched, the other two wielders of the SMGs walked up to the firing line, handed each other their weapons, and checked them the way Takeda had checked Azusa's. Apparently satisfied, they handed each other's weapon back, and brought it to their shoulders.

"Whenever you're ready." Takeda announced. And, with a trio of cracks, two of the bottles downrange jumped, and one was sprayed with snow, accompanied with a yelp. "And that's why you make sure the weapon is secured against your shoulder. Walk it off, stretch it out. If the weapon isn't secured against your shoulder, the weapon's stock will punch it from recoil. Now, are you okay? It won't be lasting damage, but it will certainly sting for a while." The student, named Saemonza, nodded, embarrassed. "Want to try again?" She nodded, and stepped up to take her weapon back from Takeda. This time, having learned her lesson to not hold the SMG away from her shoulder, she made sure that the butt-stock was firmly up against it, this way when she fired her gun, she didn't hurt herself.

"Nicely done, everybody. Now, I don't plan on getting into fully automatic just yet, so let's move on. Now, the big one, so to speak. We're going to the rifle. It's much the same as the QCQ, but it's larger, and as such, more sturdy to shoot. It also has better accuracy at range and a much longer range as well." Takeda said.

Tanka came forward, the QBZ-95B-2 Carbine that she had acquired held with its barrel pointing down. Thanks to the flat top upper receiver, it gave the Chinese Carbine the appearance of a BR55 from the Halo series of video games. An image that was helped by the fact that the QBZ-95B-2 Carbine was a bullpup weapon, meaning that the magazine was situated behind the trigger. The only thing that this weapon was missing to really complete the affair, was an electronic ammo counter and an ACOG scope.

Tanka then proved her prowess with a firearm, she hit the magazine release and the 30-round magazine slid out of the receiver. She checked the magazine and nodded in approval, she then pointed the carbine at the water bottles and dry fired the weapon. With a resounding _click_ the weapon dry-fired. She then slotted the magazine back into the receiver, grabbed the charging handle and yanked it back, chambering a round.

"Range is hot!" Tanka growled and everyone made sure to get behind her as she brought the carbine firmly to her shoulder. She pulled the trigger once, twice, three times and three a trio of thunderous _cracks_ the weapon spat fire, while three dark colored cases were ejected from the weapon while three water bottles detonated as the powerful 5.8x42mm rounds tore the water bottles apart, she then safed the weapon.

Takeda let out a long-slow whistle and their was a loud round of applause from everyone. "Well, that was impressive, miss Fuji. Ever been shooting before?" Takeda asked.

Tanka nodded. "Yeah, I have done a little bit of target shooting before. Mainly though with rifles chambered in .223 Remington, but due to the size of the round that this fires, which is only a little bigger in terms of projectile size but smaller in terms of case size compared to the .223, they thus have very similar recoil." She said with a bow.

Off to the side, others were watching, with alternating emotions. Maho and Yukari were watching with relief, because Miho seemed to be doing all right around a gun, and was distracted, at least momentarily, from Duck Team.

* * *

While Miho and company were learning how to shoot, Nakajima was working furiously to repair the Stryker that had developed engine problems. Judging from the damage, the engine had shut down, which was going to be a pain in the ass to figure out. Mainly because of lack materials to fix the problem, they had been real lucky that the engine hadn't completely blown up, otherwise then they would be in serious trouble because that would have meant a full-blown engine replacement and they would have been well and truly screwed. Still, it was going to be painful to repair, mainly because while they had to figure the problem out, but could replace it easily; the biggest problem was actually _finding_ a replacement. Right now though she had Suzuki and Honsho looking for any possible replacement parts.

As if on cue her phone buzzed. Wiping away some of the grim on her hands a spare rag, she then pulled it out and found that she had received a text from Honsho.

" _Found some matching parts in an abandoned bus, it's in good condition. We also took the liberty to remove the thermostat off of the engine as well, just to make sure that the thermostat that's currently in the Stryker hasn't gone bad."_ The text read.

"Great! Get back here as quick as possible. The sooner we get the engine in the Stryker repaired, the quicker we can get moving again." Nakajima replied quickly.

About twenty minutes later, the two grease monkeys returned, with both the spare parts and replacement thermostat in hand. It had still taken thirty minutes to get to everything, but now, they could begin troubleshooting.

Forty-five minutes of using flashlights and curses in equal measure later, they had identified the problem. Well, problems. It seems that there had been an issue between the controls and the chair. It had been driving so hard, the hoses of coolant burst. Without engine coolant, the engine overheated, and the automatic shut-off tripped. Thankfully, they had the hoses to replace the burst ones from the bus, and a dearth of spares for other problems later. The problem was that they couldn't reset the shut-off, not without the proper equipment. That was when one of the troops had an idea. "Why don't we just unhook, and rehook the battery? That usually resets things." Everybody looked at him owlishly, before a collective facepalm was had.

* * *

 _1745 Hours_

 _December 21st, 2025_

 _Outside of Myohoji, Niigata Prefecture_

Finally having finished digging in for the night, the Tankery students, and the troops protecting them, suddenly had some time to themselves. Time to watch the battle going on in the valley below. The spectacle was a sight to behold, Chinese forces were pushing hard to try and get over one of the few bridges that spanned the Shinano river. Artillery constantly thundered into the night, the deafening shriek of rockets from MLRSs and missiles, the heavy crashes of tank cannons, the incessant rapid-fire thuds from IFV autocannons, the rattle of machine guns, the cracks and pops of small-arms fire. It all helped increase the sheer scale of the battle that was taking place. As they watched, a flight of four JASDF F-2A Viper Zeroes streaked in on a bombing run, dropped their ordnance, and an entire company of MBTs went up in massive fireballs as the cluster munitions ripped the tanks to pieces. As the fighters began to turn and flee, two missiles reached up, ignoring chaff and flares deployed by the fighters and tore the entire backend off one Viper Zero, then several seconds later a literal hose of green tracers raced up and ripped another plane apart, sending its burning remains tumbling toward the ground. There was no chute from either plane.

"Christ, that looks hellish. And we have to somehow get through _that_ without dying? How the fuck are we going to do that?" Koume asked nervously looking at the massive battle that was raging, it was clear that the Chinese wanted to get into Bunsui and capture a vital crossing; however the JGSDF, US Army, and possibly even police units were simply saying no to that. As they watched, a large contingent of American Tilt-rotor aircraft appeared, two different types of tiltrotor mainly V-25s and V-120s which were standard twin engine tiltrotors and massive four engined tiltrotors respectively, along with a bunch of highly futuristic looking gunships.

The gunships quickly proved their lethality by firing on Chinese tanks, killing at least ten tanks within one minute, and peppering their positions with chain gun, missile, and rocket fire. Missiles and AA fire reached up toward the gunships, but the craft were more agile than they appeared to be, easily evading the retaliatory fire, plus using a combination of flares and chaff in order to spoof the enemy target acquisition systems.

"Looks like an American JSF Combat Brigade has arrived to help augment the current forces that are engaged. Jesus, if that is occurring then this must be a critical battle, one that if the Chinese win, they could very well capture half the prefecture." Caldwell said in awe, as the Americans laid on the hurt against the Chinese. However the Chinese proved that they weren't to be trifled with as thanks to what appeared to be a largely coordinated effort managed to take down six of the American Gunships, which promptly retreated. Just as a flight of JGSDF AH-64s appeared and unleashed fiery death unto the invaders of the home islands, mainly on the SPAAGs and SAM units which the JSF Gunships had goaded into revealing their positions.

"Crap, I am seeing Chinese ZTZ-110s and ZTQ-115s, Summer Dragon Special Mission Force MBTs and Light Tanks! Those things will _utterly_ destroy something like a Type-10 MBT in a head-to-head fight! We've gotta alert friendly forces! If the Chinese achieve a breakthrough, they will send those things right into the thick of the fighting, to not only keep the breakthrough open, but also to widen it and lead a spearhead deep behind enemy lines!" Takeda said in alarm from his foxhole, from where he was watching the action through a pair of binoculars.

It was true, particularly for the ZTZ-110, this thing had scared the crap out of the Western intelligence community when it had first appeared in the 2022, although not as badly as the Russian T-100 Ogre; the thing had the rough appearance of the Chinese Type 99A in some aspects, but it was a little lower to the ground, a little longer with it's hull being eight meters in length, and had some more radical sloping of it's frontal armor, similar to the T-72 Ural, however it's turret design appeared as if someone took the back of the Challenger II's turret and mated it to the front of a Leopard 2A7's turret. The protection for the tank was seemingly overkill, with advanced composite armor, nano-crystal steel, spaced armor, non-explosive reactive armor covering the hull front and sides as well as on the turret front, a heavy duty spall liner, laser dazzlers, smoke generator, slat armor covering the engine exhaust and turret bustle, and a hard-kill Active Protection System, all to protect its crew of four. Its armament was even more impressive, it mounted an ingeniously designed 130mm/L50 caliber high-velocity main cannon capable of firing FS-HEAT, APFSDS, FS-HE-FRAG, Canister, and a Chinese variant of the 9M120 Ataka ATGM through the gun tube. For secondary weaponry, it had a powerful W95 12.7x108mm Heavy Machine gun, although QJG-02 14.5x114mm Heavy Machine guns and even QLZ-04 35mm Automatic Grenade Launchers had been seen for use by the commander often with a gun shield, it had a QJY-88 General Purpose Machine gun mounted coaxially, and a pintle mounted QJY-88 General Purpose Machine Gun with a gun shield. The tank was powered by a monstrous 1850cc V12-twin turbocharged Diesel engine producing 2,250 horsepower; the most incredible fact about the tank was that it could run on Compressed Natural Gas, something that was rather unheard of for a vehicle of it's size. Considering the fact that it weighed in at 63 metric tons fully equipped for combat, the ZTZ-110 had a Power-to-Weight ratio of 35.7 horsepower per ton, giving it a top-speed of eighty kilometers per hour on the road and forty-five kilometers per hour off-road when the engine was governed. Lastly, the vehicle had a range of 650 kilometers before needing to be refueled.

The ZTQ-115 was a completely different story, while it had composite armor in place, it could only resist up to 50mm APFSDS rounds from the front and 30mm APFSDS from the side and rear. The vehicle had sloped frontal hull armor but flat side and rear armor, a T-55-esque turret, and a 105mm L7 rifled gun, it also had a QJY-88 coaxial machine gun and a W95 12.7x108mm machine gun mounted for the commander. Its twin-turbocharged 1500cc V-8 Diesel Engine produced some 1,200 horsepower capable of propelling it on the road to speeds of 90 kilometers per hour and off road to speeds of fifty kilometers per hour. The vehicle weighed in at only 35 metric tons fully equipped for combat. The ZTQ-115, like its big brother the ZTZ-110, could run on CNG and it had a range of some eight hundred kilometers.

Koume looked straight at Miho. "Kommandant, it might be wise to pull a similar stunt with what we did at Nota." She said with a smile.

Miho nodded in response. "Good idea Koume, but this time. Let's have the professionals do it. Mainly because if they ask for recognition, they will have them and not us." She said, she then looked at Caldwell's position. "Think you can fake us being a Special Forces unit?" She asked.

Caldwell blinked in surprise. "Oh, I get it. You want to try and pull the same trick that you pulled on us in Nota. I am sure we can do that." He said with a grin.

Little did they know however, that they had been spotted by the enemy. In this case, by a Type 89 Recon Vehicle that had been on it's way to the front. Its commander, fearing that they had spotted a group of American and Japanese Special Forces with armor support and thus called it in, requesting an artillery fire-mission on the 'Special Forces'. He got it, from a battery of eight PR50 SPMRLs. Each PR50 could fire fifty 122mm rockets at one time, thus resulting in an _incredible_ volume of firepower on target in a single volley, in this case some _four hundred_ rockets each containing some forty pounds of high explosive.

It was Maho who heard the incoming fire first. A very distinctive sounding screech, one that was only heard in documentaries about the Eastern Front during World War II. The powerful Katyusha-type MLRS. "INCOMING!" She shrieked before promptly buttoning up entirely.

"OH FUCK MY LIFE! IT'S STALIN'S ORGAN! HE'S GONNA PAY US A VISIT!" Caldwell roared in alarm before diving into his foxhole and making himself as small a target as possible.

Chaos erupted as everyone either began to either button up or dive into foxholes to protect themselves against the oncoming storm. Miho slammed her hatch shut and braced herself for what was bound to be a miserable experience. The rockets descended, and numerous explosions ripped through the ground, hurling dirt, pieces of trees, and lethal shrapnel in all directions. The relentless bombardment seemed to go on forever, as explosion after explosion erupted amongst the Ooarai and Kuromorimine tanks, as well as the surviving Strykers. Several massive explosions signaled the end of several of the IFVs. The 'screaming' from the rockets was immense and incredibly demoralizing, not to mention terrifying.

 _When is it going to stop?_ Miho thought panic stricken as a rocket landed dangerously close to the Panzer IV shaking the thing brutally as if they had been tossed into a blender. One rocket landed in a fighting hole and blew the occupants of said fighting hole to pieces.

But after what seemed like forever and a day, the shrieking and the rockets began to let up. Just as Miho began to pop open her hatch, so she could take a look around, one of the last rockets came screaming in. To her horror it scored a direct hit… on Koume's Panther.

The 122mm Type 90A rocket, 2.75 meters in length, weighing in at sixty-eight kilograms, had a minimum range of twelve kilometers and a maximum range of thirty-two kilometers, but this particular rocket, like the others in the bombardment, had been fired from a range of twenty-one kilometers. It effortlessly sliced through the thin top armor on the hull of the Panther medium tank, just forward of the turret, as its nose began to pass through the top of the armor, it's warhead was triggered and eighteen point three kilograms of high-explosive detonated.

The results were horrific. Hot shrapnel tore through the fighting compartment, shredding both the driver and the radio operator in an instant. The air inside the vehicle turned into that of a blast furnace for several seconds as a large fireball ripped through the compartment. More than long enough for fires to start. Shrapnel ricocheted off the bottom of the fighting compartment and directly into the gunner, loader, and commander. The loader was killed almost instantly, most of her face ripped away, while furious hellfire erupted in Koume's midsection, the gunner was slumped forward, gravely injured, but she was screaming too as flames licked at her body.

That's when Koume felt a searing hot pain _on her_ , a roiling blaze-like pain unlike _anything_ she had ever felt before. She was on fire. Panicking, she pushed open the hatch, even as her vision began to redden and an excruciating pain began to sweep through her. She had to get out of the tank, otherwise she was going to die in this thing! But she still felt pity for her gunner who unlike her was too gravely wounded to bail out. As she heaved herself out of the commander's hatch, the pain became too much and she started to scream in agony because it was unlike anything she had ever felt. Yet, she didn't want to die inside a metal box, thus with a herculean effort, she pulled herself completely out of the commander's cupola and managed to swing herself toward the ground. Then her strength failed and she fell to the ground hard, she tried to move, but her strength was completely expended.

* * *

Miho stared in horror at watching one of her best friends burn to death. Wreathed in flames with barely any strength remaining, her flesh reddening and blackening as the flames brutally attacked. It was too much hearing Koume scream as she died, it was the most horrible noise she had ever heard, it was also heart-wrenching, mainly because Koume didn't have a way to end her suffering early. But she did.

Fighting off tears at the fact she was going to have end a close-friend's suffering she drew her pistol, flicked the safety off with a _click_ , racked the slide, took aim, and set her trigger finger on the cold steel of the trigger. _I am sorry Koume and_ _God please forgive me._ Miho thought before she pulled the trigger. The sudden sharp _crack_ combined with a the bright flash surprised her, just like it had earlier that day, the recoil this time, however, didn't.

The spent shell casing clattered onto the hatch for the commander's cupola, and a faint trail of smoke wafted up from the muzzle of the gun barrel.

* * *

Koume felt something rip into her neck, her screaming turned into a choked-gasp. Yet, for some reason she didn't feel the pain from whatever had ripped into her neck.

The round that had hit her had been surprisingly well-placed. Despite Miho's lack of skill when it came to aiming, the round had gone right through the jugular and had grazed an artery tearing it open.

She gasped frantically for breath. The last thing she felt before she knew no more was as if her body had been blown into atoms.

Just thirty seconds after Koume lost consciousness, all measurable brain activity flatlined. Within just a few seconds, it would be impossible to revive her.

* * *

For everybody else still outside their vehicles, some had noticed someone screaming in pain, followed by a gunshot, and then the screaming stopping. However, those same people also saw that Miho Nishizumi had calmly set her pistol down on the roof of the turret of her Panzer -after securing the weapon- and was now crying, a gut-wrenching stuttering wail of misery and grief. And a little piece of everyone died in that moment.

* * *

 **AN:** **That's the end of that chapter, yes we do realize that this is very much going to be for a majority of the Ooarai Tankery Team members be a case of break of the cutie; but if this fic is to be done realistically, then it has to happen. Mainly because war is hell, you want to see a good depiction of how horrific war is, the films Fury (2014), Hamburger Hill, All Quiet on the Western Front, We Were Soldiers, Platoon, Band of Brothers, etc.**

 _ **There are also excellent tv shows and documentaries. Our World War, for example, is an excellent example of the Great War.**_

 **Also in the Shinto religion, Yomi is the afterlife; but it's appearance varies greatly from myth to myth, in some it's a dark and gloomy underworld where the souls of the deceased carry on in a gloomy and shadowy existence regardless of their deeds, with a river separating the living and the dead as described in the legend of Izanami and Izanagi in the Shinto religion, however in other myths, it also include notions of resurrection and even Elysium-like descriptions. It could be possible and I am just taking a guess here based on the varying descriptions given in the various myths regarding Yomi, but it could be possible that Yomi has a combination of both an Elysium-esque afterlife and this gloomy and shadowy afterlife. But, major spiritual references like that, won't happen all that much.**

 **As for the last thing that Koume felt before she passed, well that was tricky to do, but after going to wikipedia and scouring the site, I found that in the science section of the afterlife page, a group of Tibetan Lamas relayed to their pupils the sensations experienced during the act of dying.**

 _ **I didn't want to make the gun lesson a cutesy thing, because guns are all dangerous. They are very serious business. There's no room for cute accidents. Even air guns are dangerous. I've had to dig steel BBs out of people's skin, as well as my own. at airsoft meets, because someone brought the wrong kind of weapon. We use the plastic ones, that don't punch clean through clothes, and flesh. It stings, but that's all. We also use engagement distances depending on the speed of a round from someone's weapon. We make it as safe as possible. And firearm safety has been drilled into me since I was six years old.**_

 **Because there is** _ **NO SUCH THING**_ **as a cute accident when it comes to firearms, even ones that fire 2.7mm rounds that go only 200 meters per second at the muzzle and have a muzzle energy of exactly 4 joules, even something like that if it hits the right spot can kill and even if it doesn't the hit will be incredibly painful.**

 _ **Fun fact, the LAV-III, or Stryker, since the US adopted it, uses the C7 Caterpillar engine. The same as several trucks, and, yes, school buses. I assume they have an Overheat Cut-off; most engines nowadays do, to prevent them from getting damaged if in the event of overheating. And, yes, you can blow your hoses if you drive the engine too hard. Especially on older hoses.**_

 **Now the Chinese ZTZ-110 and the ZTQ-115 are writer's cut vehicles and tanks being capable of running on Natural Gas is not impossible, if you look on the wiki's page titled List of Natural Gas Vehicles, there is an MBT listed on that page, the Soviet, now Russian, T-80 MBT, plus China is the world leader in terms of NGVs that are currently on the road with over four million, so it makes sense that their MBTs probably have the same ability.**

 **Translations:**

 **Elefant: Elephant**


	5. The Road to Niigata Part 3

**AN: Alright, here we go; onwards into the next chapter. So, Stalin's Organ has just payed our heroes a visit with horrific results. Sadly, there isn't enough time for one to mourn those who have died, before more trouble appears. Anything to add Baron?**

 _ **Due to family emergencies and job interviews, I delayed this chapter. My utmost apologies.**_

 **So in light of that, here is an extra long chapter to make up for that.**

* * *

 _1815 Hours_

 _December 21st, 2025_

 _Outside Myohoji, Niigata Prefecture_

The horrific ringing tinnitus from the 122mm high-explosive rockets that had just landed all around them had just begun to die down, as it vanished; other sounds began to reach the ears of those who had just been on the receiving end on the brutal bombardment. Those sounds mainly being the sounds of battle that was taking place outside Bunsui, as well as the crackling of fires as they consumed a Kuromorimine Panzerkampfwagen V Panther and two M1926 Dragoons, a violent popping was beginning to resound from the vehicles as the ammunition began to cook-off, and with a thundering _boom_ the turret was blown off the hulk of the Panther. Another sound however that was also heard was a stuttering heart-wrenching wailing of misery and grief plus the cries of the wounded and the dying.

Lieutenant Takeda was looking around horrified at the carnage, but he was incredibly shocked that _Miho_ , of all people, had just ended another life in mercy. It must have broken the poor girl's heart to have been forced to do that. He glanced up at Maho's Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf H Tiger I, and at the commander of said vehicle, who at the moment was shaking her head frantically in a vain attempt to get some hearing back.

"Captain! Get your ass over here!" Takeda bellowed sharply. But due to the fact that like him, he hadn't been inside a vehicle during the thunderous bombardment but in a foxhole. He had to bellow for Caldwell twice before the man came over to him. "Yes Lieutenant?!" He growled, slightly too loud for their current situation, but given what had just happened, they needed to be discussing a plan.

"We need to move now! Possibly even request evac if we can get it!" Takeda hissed and Caldwell nodded in response. Suddenly Rikato started shouting in alarm. "Contacts! Multiple contacts! I think they are coming to check the results of their artillery barrage!" She shouted, sounding slightly off. Probably still reeling from the bombardment.

Takeda and Caldwell both spun and almost instantly spotted what the threat was, it was after all almost impossible to miss something that weighed over sixty metric tons and was armed with a great big 130mm main gun coming toward you at over twenty KPH. Three platoons of MBTs, each composed of five ZTZ-110s, along with at least two twelve-man squads of dismounted infantry were advancing on them.

Erika's Panther II fired first, it's long eighty-eight roared angrily and it vomited a spike round that blitzed out a little over Mach 5. Yet, to the horror of just about everyone save the JGSDF and USA troops, the spike munition hit and bounced right off the upper glacis of the massive steel and composite monster, not even leaving a noticeable dent in the armor. "UTE!" Maho shouted and her Tiger open fired, with similar results. Soon almost everyone was firing at the enemy tanks, which were just calmly advancing ignoring the fire that the various tanks were sending down range of them as it simply bouncing harmlessly off the tanks heavily armored composite hides.

With a high-pitched screech the ATGM carrier fired and a TOW-2A ATGM roared downrange, but it never even hit their foe, blasted out of the sky by an APS. With a thundering crackle the various infantry opened fire with various weaponry, Assault Rifles, LMGs, DMRs, and grenades all began flying toward the enemy. With various flashes the enemy infantry started returning fire, bullets sparkled off of armor, punched holes in trees, and sent small plumes of snow upward. Takeda and Caldwell did the samething, opening fire with their Assault Rifles, after they had dove into a foxhole.

With a vastly powerful _whoosh_ two of the few Javelins that they had roared upward, going screaming into its distinctive top-down attack. Both missiles nosed over and went after the same MBT. At first it appeared to be overkill, at least until the APS got one of the Javelins, but it couldn't recharge in time to get the other one though. The missile ripped right into the top of the turret of the Chinese MBT, it came to a lurching halt as a gout of flame came gushing upward from the top of the tank's turret as the powerful Tandem warhead had ripped the tank apart. Flames roared out of the vehicle as a violent cracking and popping began to resound as ammunition cooked off. With a dramatic explosion the ammunition cooked off, the safety features of the turret venting the powerful explosion out sideways instead of letting go upward, however it still made for a damn impressive show; the roar of that blast sounded like the death cry of some great beast that had been slain.

Then whatever sense of jubilation that everyone felt from seeing the destruction of one of the massive monsters disappeared in an instant as the fourteen remaining ZTZ-110s opened fire with their main guns and machine guns. Instantly throwing everything straight into hell. Machine gun rounds scythed through the air as enormous detonations convulsed the ground as the Chinese monsters advanced, their main guns spitting enormous blasts of fire and smoke as well as titanic reports as they closed.

"Retreat! Retreat! Fallback! Get the hell out of here!" Takeda shouted in alarm. They couldn't win against this, they simply couldn't, not with their firepower. One of the first tanks to lurch into motion was the Panzer IV Ausf. H. The vehicle backed up out of it's fighting hole, it's coaxial machine gun spitting hate, the vehicle then spun on its axis and, began to rumble deeper into the woods, the rest of the tanks quickly beginning to do the same.

" _What about you Lieutenant?"_ Maho asked over the radio, sounding worried.

"We will cover your retreat, screw the plan to get to Niigata by getting their via Bunsui. Take the coastal road!" Takeda yelled from his foxhole into the radio as he fired almost mechanically at hostile troops.

" _You realize that's a one-way trip, right?"_ Maho asked somewhat shakily.

"We realize that, but it's our duty, besides no way are we going to outrun tanks on foot and before you tell us to climb aboard your tanks, we will be hopelessly exposed; you take of yourself." Takeda replied grimly.

" _Jigoku no chūi o kure."_ Maho replied solemnly as her Tiger rumbled deeper into the woods, it's commander firing short rapid fire bursts from the cupola mounted MG 42, the weapon emitting a sound like a buzz-saw as it sent rounds down range.

* * *

 **51st Combined Arms Warfare Team, 7th SDSF Mechanized Battalion**

 **The Yínsè Banshees**

 **Diànqīng Section**

Inside Diànqīng Actual, Commander Hao Yating frowned as he watched the last of the enemy tanks begin to flee into the woods. Looks like the report from the now sadly combat ineffective 'Golden Bears' was indeed true, as was the report from Fang, who had been reassigned to the 51st Combined Arms Warfare Team after the success of mission despite the catastrophic losses he had received at the start of his mission had, were indeed true. There were Japanese Sensha-Dou Teams caught behind their lines and were running with both JGSDF and USA units, who were most likely running escort, but were now just simply fighting a delaying action, to allow them to escape.

"Contact! TOW Vehicle!" The gunner growled.

"Load HEAT!" Yating grumbled in reply.

The loader grabbed a HEAT round from the ready rack and slammed it home into the breach of the gun. "Up!" The loader barked.

"Huǒ!" Yating shouted and an instant later the turret rocked back amid a terrific and awesome sounding _crash_ while the gun breach kicked back and discharged the now empty casing into a basket. With an enormous explosion that lit the treeline they were advancing on with a brilliant fireball, the vehicle exploded. Throwing pieces of it all over the place, its burning husk illuminating the area around it in the treeline. "Enemy destroyed!" the gunner whooped.

"All tanks load time-fused HE. Fire on my command." Yating said nonchalantly before switching channels so he could raise the commander of the two platoons each composed of five ZTQ-115s. "Fang, you and your team ready to have some fun?" He asked, while Fang's section in Diànqīng Section was technically it's own section, it was actually considered a subsection of Diànqīng Section in Yínsè Banshees Team and was merely the Light Tank Portion of the section along with four platoons each composed of four ZBD-17s, the one of the other two sections were composed of support units, mainly PTZ-110s armed with a massive 152mm/L44 Gun, PLL-05 Self-Propelled Gun Mortars, and PGZ-12 SPAAGs; while the other section was composed of Gunships Z-25s for harassing enemy units plus Z-19s for scouting.

" _Am I ever, also looking for a bit of payback as well! Rules of engagement sir?"_ Fang replied sounding incredible gleeful.

"When you engage, use only HE-FRAG, if you are forced to use HEAT or Sabot rounds, aim for the engine compartments. Do not fire on any crew members that bailout. Remember your objective is to herd them into Fǔlàn and Grun sections awaiting arms, where they will disable all of the vehicles that you don't disable." Yating replied setting down the ground rules.

" _Luó jié, but why are we doing that?"_ Fang asked curiously.

"Mainly because word hasn't really gotten around to the regular PLAGF either that or they will ignore that fact. Thus our objective is to get them out of the combat zone as soon as possible, mainly by taking them into protective custody. It's best for everyone. Still be careful, it also looks like the part about it being the Tankery Team from both Ooarai and Kuromorimine is indeed true. Which means you are up against both of the Nishizumi Sisters here, so watch yourself; one is just like Erwin Rommel in just about every way possible and the other is an expert at devising tactics that will throw anyone for a loop." Yating replied.

" _Ah, luó jié and I will watch myself. See you in a bit commander."_ Fang replied crisply and then Yating cut the connection.

"All tanks fire." Yating growled and the fourteen ZTZ-110s fired their 130mm guns in salvo, pulses of fire and smoke lanced out of the gun barrels, followed a split second later by multiple detonations ripping to life over the enemy position, sending hot steel slashing through their positions.

A Javelin Missile screamed out of the treeline, it went into it's distinctive top-attack mode, only to be intercepted by the APS on Yating's Tank, thus negating its tank killing capability. Pathetic, that's what was this showing from American and Japanese Ground Forces was, absolutely pathetic, granted they had managed to destroy a single ZTZ-110 by overwhelming it's APS by firing two Javelins at once at it. However, they hadn't stood a chance, once the tanks had opened fire; because the they were simply outmatched.

* * *

Inside Miho's Panzer IV, it was cold, bouncing along roughly across the ground, and the engine was roaring inside. Yet Miho, who had been dragged into the interior of the tank by Yukari, after she had grabbed the pistol, was still weeping in despair. " _Commander! What do we do?!"_ Nekota asked frantically over the radio.

Miho didn't respond, she still wept, her heart and spirit having been utterly broken after ending Koume's life. " _Commander! Contact! Contact! I am seeing something moving at high speed through the trees!"_ Erika shouted over the link, her voice filled with fear and sadness.

" _Commander?! Are you there! We need orders, urgently!"_ Sodoko yelled fearfully.

"Erika what are those contacts!?" Saori shouted over the radio.

" _Some sort of Light Tank! They are closing quickly on us!"_ Erika replied quickly in alarm.

"Miss Nishizumi! We need you! We need you badly!" Yukari shouted terrified at the fact they were likely going to die.

Yet she still didn't respond, it was clear that she was terrified and hurting at what had happened. Which to be frank was understandable, anyone who hadn't been in combat before would be in similar shape considering what they were going through. " _CONTACTS! Multiple gun flashes!"_ Tsuga shouted fearfully as cannon flashes light up the dark forest and sharp cannon reports resounded through the trees. Shells almost instantly began to bracket them with a sharp tempo, as the enemy tried to force them into a tighter group to try and eliminate them.

" _Kommandant! Orders?! What do we do?!"_ Erika shouted, she was sounding terrified now.

Yukari realized what she needed to do, she carefully removed Miho's throat-mic. She then rubbed a few soft circles into Miho's back. "This is Akiyama Yukari, I am taking over as commander of Anglerfish Team, for the moment. Miho is, well, not really here it would seem at the moment." Yukari said into the throat mic. It felt a little strange having the thing on her, not that she minded.

"All Panzers engage!" She growled a few seconds later.

A flurry of replies was her answer, followed several seconds later by thundering cannon discharges. Shells flew through the air, but just like before, they skimmed the turret curve thus failing to penetrate, or even hit anything on occasion, simply because they couldn't reliably hit anything on the move. The same couldn't be said for the Chinese Light Tanks however. A tracer slammed into the side Erika's Panther II and detonated against the machine's side, but apart from a small dent and jostling everyone didn't do much. The enemy was firing HE!

The running gun battle continued with both sides firing as much as they could, trying to frantically hit the target. In the confusion however, a Panther Tank got separated from the others and unwittingly blundered toward the ferocious action happening on both sides of the Shinano River in the city of Bunsui. Then it all went to hell for one particular tank.

Rabbit Team's M3 Lee was working hard to keep up with everyone. Then a 105mm FS-HE-FRAG round crashed into the tracks which promptly blew them off and caused the tank to swing violently a hundred and eighty degrees to one side. The American Medium was now completely dead in the water.

" _We've been hit by an HE round! They are trying to disable us, the smart bastards!"_ Erika growled in response as she saw what occurred to the Lee.

" _This is Rabbit! We've been hit, we've lost a track!"_ Azusa shouted in alarm.

"Crap! Hang on Rabbit, we're coming! We're coming!" Yukari shouted over the radio.

" _Negative Anglerfish, we will just make you a vulnerable target for the enemy. Continue on without us, we will catch-up. You just_ go _!"_ Azusa barked. They didn't have time to wait for them to do repairs to their track. There simply wasn't any time left.

"But, Azusa!" Yukari replied stunned.

" _Listen, Yukari, if you don't get out of here, who is going to tell the world about the sacrifice that those JGSDF and USA Troops did for us? Or what happened to Duck Team? Or our experiences while trying to get to Niigata? No, we are just baggage here, make your escape Anglerfish. Rabbit Team out!"_ Azusa said sadly, knowing that it was probably over.

However, to Azusa's surprise, the end didn't come. The sounds of combat quickly faded into the trees and disappeared, leaving them with only the sound of the M3's engine idling and the sound of their own breathing. After several long seconds, Azusa figured that they were probably safe. Well, for the moment at least. "Alright, let's get that track fixed. The sooner we can get our tracks repaired the quicker we can get moving again and meet up with everyone." She said, before opening the commander's hatch and heaving her torso out of the tank and beginning to look around keeping an eye out for hostile troops -she made damn sure that her SMG was in easy reach- while at the sametime Karina, Ayumi, and Yuuki dismounted in order to fix the track, while Saki and Aya remained inside so that the 37mm gun remained fully manned and ready to engage at a moment's notice.

Still, as Azusa scanned her surroundings from her vantage point with her binoculars, she found herself wishing that she had night vision. Mainly because it was so damn hard to see, but she had to make do with what she had. She still didn't like it. Particularly because her chances of spotting something in the current light conditions were pretty poor, but she also knew better that to grab a flashlight and use that to try and help.

Down in the snow, working frantically to repair the tracks, the three second years that were trying to repair it were grunting with the heavy exertion of maneuvering the heavy track links into proper position. They had been lucky in the sense that the hit responsible for tracking them had hit the track around the slack wheels, which were also spaced out, keeping them from getting damaged also. Otherwise they would be looking at several broken road wheels. Still it was a long and arduous process to repair the damn thing, just because the track segments were incredibly heavy.

* * *

However, while Rabbit Team was fixing their tracks, the various other Tankery vehicles were running for their lives, and the Chinese Summer Dragon Special Mission Force ZTZ-110s were finishing up business with the JGSDF and USA Units that had escorted the Ooarai and Kuromorimine this far; across the river inside a C1A5 Archon Command Vehicle; Colonel Ruth Francis, the overall Commanding Officer of the 21st Armored Combat Team assigned to the Joint Strike Force, frowned as she looked at the holographic projected tactical map, which provide a real-time three dimensional overview of the battlespace.

The situation was, despite the 21st ACT having arrived on the scene, sadly deteriorating. Fast. The Chinese were counter-battering both American and Japanese artillery pieces expertly. At the moment they were trying to rig the bridge to blow, but that task had become a monster that was eating combat engineers at a frightening rate. She had decided to call attempting to rig the bridge to blow with C4 a bust and thus had decided that if it became needed, they would destroy it with an airstrike.

"Ma'am, we just saw something very weird occur in the rear of the Chinese Lines." Her advisor, Command Chief Master Sergeant Branson Zimmerman said gruffly.

"Strange in what way Sergeant?" Francis asked as she ran her fingers through her dark red hair.

"The Chinese for some strange reason, just bombarded the hell out of this area with a battery of SPMRLs; we raised all military units in the battlespace, asking whether or not they had any idea what they might have blasted. But, we've come up negative on that in the all areas. So we have no idea what they could have nailed." Zimmerman replied at length, gesturing to an area that was some ten kilometers at least behind the Chinese front lines.

Ruth pondered that, she had to admit. It was very curious, but then again; no one in their right mind would have a MRL battery blast an area that was nowhere near the frontlines. Thus, she decided to do a little bit of investigating, just to find out what was going on. "Send our Scryer over to that location, let's see what's going on over there." She ordered.

The pilot of the UAV nodded, he quickly maneuvered the UAV into a position into a position so it's powerful camera could find out what was up, the powerful cameras quickly found fourteen ZTZ-110s with infantry and they seemed to have managed to take prisoners. "Well damn we got Summer Dragon Special Mission Force units here, this will make life painful for us if they manage a breakthrough, but we can't see in those trees, switch to thermal-imaging!" Ruth barked and the image went from night-vision overlay to a white-hot thermal overlay. What it revealed was disheartening to say the least.

The burning remains of several Dragoons and an ATGM vehicle were in the trees, as was what appeared to be a tracked vehicle of some-kind, from the looks of it what _had_ been a tank of some kind. But what it had been was nearly impossible to discern because the vehicle was wrecked and on fire. But there were also bodies, which glowed a dull grey on the thermal scope, at least fifteen or so maybe more.

However, as the camera was panned further to the east. It quickly found several hotspots, including what appeared to be an M3 Lee of all tanks, with several people outside of it; who from the looks of it, where trying to repair the machine. Another figure was halfway out of the funky commander's turret. "Is that a Tankery tank?! What the hell is one doing all the way out here?!" Ruth asked no in particular stunned.

"I do remember hearing about a match happening roughly a hundred kilometers southwest of us. But, last I heard, they had received orders to try and get to Niigata, Bunsui is a rather interesting place to go through, but then again it would give them a straight shot to the port of Niigata." Zimmerman said, looking thoughtful, on a whim the Scryer panned it's camera further east and the machine moved in that direction, and it quickly found a running a gun-battle between a bunch of tanks.

"Ma'am, look." An aide said, as the Holographic table updated, and began showing these additional vehicles and figures. There appeared to be at least ten Chinese foot-mobiles closing in on the M3 Lee and it's crew. But even more alarming, what appeared to be twenty or so Tankery Tanks were racing in seemingly a blind panic, right toward a clearing with a bunch of Chinese Tank Destroyers, gun mortars, SPAAGs, and gunships; an ambush.

"Do we have any Razorbacks or Lightnings in the air? It's too risky for aircraft that _aren't_ stealth to do CAS in that area." Ruth asked, referring to the JSF A-20 Razorback in the case of the former and the F-35 in the case of the later.

"Yes ma'am we do! Four flights of Lightnings are within a distance where they could respond in adequate time, as are two flights of Razorbacks, however all of the Lightning flights are evac winchester as is one of the flights of Razorbacks. However the flight of Razorbacks that can respond is armed with a full load of ammunition for their guns and have four AGM-130s for ground attack, plus four Sidewinders for self-defense." An aide reported quickly.

"It'll do, redirect those Razorbacks. Mission overwrite code Victor-Lima-Alpha- Whiskey-Niner-Five-Zero-Tango-Sierra. Mission-type Close Air Support and neutralization of enemy aircraft. Ground targets are at least four platoons of PTZ-110s, at least two batteries of PLL-05s, and at least a battery of PGZ-12s. Airborne targets are roughly six flights of Z-25s and three flights of Z-19s. Friendlies are in Sensha-dou Tanks, distance from hostiles, danger close, I repeat danger close. The coordinates are." Ruth said, rattling off a set of coordinates.

The frequency was quiet for an agonizing ten seconds before the pilot of the lead Razorback replied. " _Roger that Mr. Big; Regal squadron acknowledges mission overwrite code, we are currently en-route. Are we on a clock here?"_ Regal leader replied tersely, using the Archon's call sign of Mr. Big in his transmission.

Ruth went to the holographic map, punched in a few commands and a timer appeared until those Sensha-dou Tanks would arrive in that clearing, her heart sank into stomach. "Affirmative Regal Leader, you are on a clock. We need you over the target area in about seven and half minutes. Otherwise our friendly units are going to be in a shit-ton of trouble. Be advised, unmarked friendly forces in the AO." Ruth said sharply.

" _Roger, we are three hundred miles out from the indicated coordinates. In order for us to make it their on time, we are going to have to go supersonic, at best possible speed our ETA is eight minutes twenty-six seconds."_ Regal leader replied quickly, the thundering roar of the two powerful P &W F119-PW-150 Turbofan engines built in the background, each producing a whopping 38,500 pounds of thrust.

"Affirmative, make it quick Regal Squadron." Ruth replied before cutting the connection and then letting out a sigh of relief. That was one thing taken care-off, she knew for the fact that Regal Squadron while they would be cutting it close; they would make it in time to hopefully make a difference.

* * *

Maho was grateful that it was rather dark inside the fighting compartment of her Tiger I, mainly because no one could see the lines of tears that had made their way down her face. It broke her heart dearly to see that her sister had lost the last of her innocence and in such a heart-breaking way. That's when she heard a communication from Rikato that she wasn't expecting.

" _Hold on a second! Where the hell is tank six?"_ She asked baffled.

Frowning and despite the fact that their was still some thick incoming fire. Maho opened the commander's cupola and heaved her torso out of the cupola. She quickly looked around and found that indeed to her dismay, that Tank six was missing. "Tank six, this is tank one, where are you?" Maho asked trying to figure out where the hell had that Panther gone.

The response that she got well it completely baffled and confused her. " _Not now Kommandant! We're a little busy, I am going to have to call you back!"_ The commander of Tank six bellowed in response, which considering that it seemed like _both_ the coaxial and hull mounted MG 34 were firing at something, combined with the fact that it sounded like bullets, autocannon shells, and possibly even grenades were drumming against the Panther's armor like rain and while they weren't penetrating, the shots were making an incredible racket.

"Any idea where you are?!" Maho asked surprised at the response that she had gotten, which to be frank she hadn't been expecting.

" _Not one clue! Ah, shit! Gunner, enemy light tank! Take him out!"_ The commander of that Panther replied briskly, before the connection cutout, amid the bellow of the L70 gun that the Panther was armed with.

Maho frowned in dismay, she had no clue what was going with that Panther I, she would figure it out later. That's when a cheer resounded over the radio and was followed shortly by a large scale explosion. " _Hell yeah! Got one!"_ The commander of the second Panther II in their group yelled with giggling glee.

"Nice shot, tank three." Maho complimented, mainly because it was a pretty incredible shot; considering that they were moving at high-speed over the rough terrain with only muzzle flashes to help locate the enemy, in a forest at night, and the fact that the Panther II didn't have a gyro-stabilized gun like the American M4 Sherman did. So it was a well deserved compliment all things considered.

But, Maho began to get this nagging feeling in the back of her head, something wasn't right. The enemy which despite the accuracy issues that comes from firing the main gun on the move, even with modern gun stabilization systems, were missing way too much; it was almost as if they weren't shooting to kill them. But instead it seemed as if… if they were herding them toward one… specific area.

Maho's eyes widened in alarm as she realized that the enemy was in fact simply channeling them into a killzone, just as her Tiger burst into a clearing. " _WOAH!"_ The driver shouted and promptly slammed on the brakes, the tracks locked and the tank skidded, sliding for at least seven or eight meters before coming to a jerking halt. As did the other Ooarai and Kuromorimine tanks as they entered the clearing.

The reason for the sudden stop quickly became obvious, for sitting some five hundred fifty meters away was in four three-tank sections, _twelve_ of the meanest looking MBTs that Maho had _ever_ seen. That is until she realized these were likely gun armed tank destroyers, they had the hull of the Chinese ZTZ-110 MBT, but the turret looked vaguely similar to the to the turret of the Russian T-95 MBT, but instead of a great big 130mm gun, this monster was mounting a 152.4mm long-gun, something that could probably send an AP spike round through the front of her Tiger, core all the way through the tank, and then still have enough power to tear through the front of a Königstiger sitting fifty meters or so behind her Tiger I easily.

She spotted additional movement and saw that there were at twelve gun-mortars, maybe more, pointing their barrels in their general direction and also twelve vehicles that were relatively low in height in terms of the chassis, but it had a Russian Tunguska-style turret with two large caliber four-barreled rotary cannons -one on each side of the turret- and with six missile launcher cells on each side of turret, flanking the rotary cannons for a grand total of twelve; those were clearly Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns.

However one thing that the tank destroyers, self-propelled gun-mortars, and SPAAGs all had in common however, was the fact that they had a distinctive pale green and dark green disruptive camouflage paint job, with a thin red circle near the muzzles of their guns.

That's when the radio crackled on an open frequency. A voice with a somewhat thick accent came over the radio. " _Report."_ One of them growled as he gazed at the various WWII-era tanks.

" _Grun 2-1 here, looks like Fang managed to disable one of them and the artillery barrage got from the looks of it, two of them."_ One enemy commander replied.

The thunder of rotors also got her attention and she promptly paled as she spotted the source of the noise coming into a position to be on their flanks and front, were a bunch of helicopters, in three-ship flights. Six of the flights of helicopters had an interesting NOTAR arrangement, a rather bulky looking airframe, at the tip of its nose a camera system that appeared to be capable rotating, a double bubble canopy design, two short stubby wings with two hardpoints each with the outer-hardpoints mounting a pack of what appeared to be six ATGMs and the inner hardpoints each held a pod that likely held unguided rockets. Given the size and shape of those rocket pods, likely eighty millimeter rockets. Lastly, under the chin of the imposing gunship was a single-barreled automatic cannon, most likely a 30mm. The Jet Black with red and grey highlights for the paint job served to further increase the intimidation factor. Maho didn't know it at the time, but she was looking at the latest in Chinese Gunship Technology, the Z-25, designed and built by Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation.

The other four flights of three helicopters each couldn't have been more of the opposite if they tried. Looking almost exactly like the JGSDF's OH-1 Ninjas, these helos had a fenestron tail rotor, a sleek cockpit design, a sleek and narrow airframe, they lacked a chin gun and had in its place what appeared to be a rotating camera system, it's two stubby winglets each had ordinance slung beneath them in the form of four lethal looking ATGMs under one wing and four slim and fast looking lightweight missiles that were probably AAMs. These helicopters were again painted just like the gunships, which further increased their intimidation factor. She would find out later that these were Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation Z-19s.

" _This is Fǔlàn Leader! Our prey has entered the net, time to go on the hunt!"_ The commander of the helicopter section snarled with an undertone of what seemed like glee.

With a roar of engines, the ZTQ-115s, nine in total, that were responsible for herding them into this trap, closed the only possible escape route as they came to a skidding halt just at the edge of the clearing directly behind them; their gun tubes swinging into position to get shots on them just in case they tried to run. Even for an expert strategist like Maho, she couldn't think of _any_ way that they could escape from this one alive. If artillery and gunships in particular were allowed in Sensha-dou, Maho could actually see Katyusha devising a trap like this, at which point she doubted that even her mother would get upset if they decided to surrender. Mainly because they were on the wrong end of _way too much firepower_ and she knew what that was like, as she remembered coming under sustained bombardment from a Mörser Karl before. That hadn't been fun, it had been utterly terrifying facing such massive firepower and not being able to do a thing about it in return, really a feeling of hopelessness as they had been forced to retreat from an excellent defensive position, but this time their was nothing they could do to remove the enemy's overwhelming firepower advantage.

" _Diànqīng 2-1 here, Gengxin calm yourself, remember what your assigned task is."_ One of the Light Tank commanders announced over the radio.

" _Zhùkǒu Fang! Just because you managed to achieve your objectives with a hopelessly crippled tank company with only one machine at full combat capability, which encountered a snag in the form of a JGSDF Type 10, doesn't mean you're my immediate superior!"_ The commander of the helicopters, now with the last name of Gengxin snarled in response.

Few noticed it at first, but a low rumbling began to build in background.

As if on cue, the radio exploded into chaos as everyone came over their shock. " _My god! We're screwed man! We're screwed!"_ Ritako shouted.

" _Game over! Game_ fucking _over! We aren't getting out of this alive!"_ Nekota shouted in mortal fear.

" _I doubt even a fully-kitted out Challenger II will be able to survive even a_ fraction _of the amount of firepower we are facing and the Challenger II is_ easily _the toughest MBT in the world."_ Yukari said her voice barely a whisper.

" _This is worse than the trap Pravda lured us into during the semifinals last year. Except this time, it's not a sport and we are all dead."_ Anzu wailed as she realized that she was looking death straight in the face.

The rumbling thunder was building, its sound was getting progressively louder, it seemed, with each passing second Moreover the source was seemingly directly behind them. Maho began to wonder what it was.

" _T-t-t-that's against the school rules, using such massive firepower!"_ Sodoko snarled more in anger and defiance than anything else.

Despite the situation Maho actually had to stifle a laugh just because that statement was just so incredibly out of place it was hilarious.

" _So this is the way it ends, on the receiving end of too much firepower, eh? Well it was a good run while it lasted."_ Isa said with a long sad sigh.

 _Well we are right fucked now! We have fucking_ nothing _that can penetrate that sort of armor, even at this fucking distance!"_ Tsuga yelled, her fear palpable in her voice.

" _Now I know how Japanese tankers who participated in the Battles of Khalk-"_ Erwin began to say dismally and then the silence before the storm ended, as in a show of defiance the Jagdpanther and the Jagdpanzer IV/70s opened fire simultaneously, a thundering crash that sounded incredible. Five spike rounds blitzed toward the closest Tank Destroyer and predictably the spikes bounced clean off the incredibly thick composite armor, not even denting the armor. They just didn't come close to the firepower necessary to penetrate one of those.

" _Damnit, I guess we are going to have to do this the hard way then. Grun section, let's have some fun."_ The commander of the section known as Grun said with a heavy sigh, almost as if he didn't want to engage at all.

" _I was hoping you would say that, Wuhan! Fǔlàn section, time to hunt some wild dogs! Disable them all!"_ Gengxin said with a what sounded like tons of eagerness.

" _Roger, this is Diànqīng 2-1, targets spotted, we will get the stragglers you miss in your first salvo."_ The man, now known as Fang replied.

The enemy TDs lowered their gun tubes from a slightly elevated position to the point where they were pointing straight at them. The rumbling thunder suddenly reached a fever pitch and the turrets of the SPAAGs suddenly rotated with a speed that Maho didn't think was possible and their guns began to elevate rapidly… and then with the only warning being the screech of a rocket engine that caused her to tilt her head in confusion the area with the TDs, SPAAGs, and Self-propelled Gun Mortars simply blew up.

Enormous fireballs erupted from the ground itself and a massive pressure wave slammed into her Tiger and shoved it back. Pieces of earth trees, rock, and metal bombarded the various panzers, abrading paint and leaving numerous dents and gashes.

As Maho watched through the confusion, the helicopters were spinning around wildly in a desperate attempt to get ordinance on target. Then the planes responsible for the carnage appeared amid an incredible sonic boom that was actually audible over the noise from the detonations of whatever the hell had been dropped, four American aircraft whose airframes were clearly based on the F-22A Raptor right down to the wing design, but there was a drastic difference between these planes and American Raptors, these planes had their wings swept-forward. As she watched each plane launched four missiles apiece, each directed at a different helicopter. The powerful missiles simply blew the helicopters apart in dramatic fireballs, their frames simply unable to stay together in any recognizable form as the missiles hit, however some of the enemy helicopters launched flares and chaff, and with wild maneuvers managed to decoy the missiles that were fired at them.

The surviving Chinese helos spun around to face the American fighter-bombers which were coming around for yet _another_ pass on the Chinese forces. This time, however the only remaining Chinese forces were eight Z-19s and four of those funky tail-rotorless, non-contra-rotating rotor gunships.

It was a defiant last stand and the Chinese knew it. The Americans closed the distance so rapidly that by time the Chinese had likely managed to acquire missile lock or in some cases engaged with their guns, it was already too late. A tremendous buzz-saw roar filled the air and a several short streams of red tracers lashed forth like some lethal bull whip and ripped the relatively fragile helicopters apart and sent all eight Z-19s tumbling toward the ground, with four completely unrecognizable thanks to the _murderous_ number of hits they had taken and the others simply because they had been riddled with fragments from the effects of large caliber armor-piercing, high-explosive, and tracer rounds hitting their intended targets.

The jets screamed by again, the Chinese gunships spinning around in vain to try and track and hit them. That's when she heard someone shouting in a voice that was entirely too loud for the current situation but given what had just happened was entirely understandable. "HOLY SHIT! AMERICAN A-20 RAZORBACKS!"

The Razorbacks came around one last time, effortlessly avoid the paltry barrage of cannon fire that the chin guns on the Chinese gunships unleashed in their direction. Four streams of lethal tracers roared forth from the guns of the Razorbacks and simply ripped the funky looking helicopters to shreds, sending their remains wrapped in flames and smoke tumbling toward the ground. Just before one of the gunships hit the ground, something amazing happened, the rotor blades were suddenly blasted away by explosive bolts and then the forward canopy blew off and with the shriek of a rocket engine _an ejection seat_ hurled the pilot of the craft out of the doomed gunship.

As the Razorbacks formed back up, one of them waggled their wings in salute and then the American Fighter-bombers climbed and disappeared into the cloud deck that was at fifteen thousand feet, the only sound after that was horrific case of tinnitus, the low rapidly fading rumble of Turbofan Engines, and the crackling of fires.

Meanwhile, slowly drifting down from the carnage above was single white circular parachute. The pilot that had bailed out of the Gunship. The rumble of an engine got her attention, she glanced over her shoulder and smirked at the fact that the nine ZTQ-115s were beginning to back up in alarm and likely fear, these tanks were painted a sharp white with indigo markings on turret, hull, and gun. The way that the tanks were backing up though, made it obvious that the crews of those vehicles were scared out of their minds and rightfully so after seeing such an overwhelming force so effortlessly destroyed.

That is until four of the massive TDs appeared out of the maelstrom of fire, smoke, and churned up earth that the American ordnance had created. All most all of the NERA blocks, the APS, and commander's machine gun on all four vehicles had been ripped off. Their armor was scorched, pitted, and dented to hell and back, plus the paint job was utterly ruined. But it was incredible that four of those bemonths managed to survive a bombing run as intense as that, it was insane; really showing just how tough these monsters were.

However none of the enemy gunships had survived. They had all been brutally decimated by the Americans, which was a good thing as they lacked proper firepower to take those things down.

But the odds just went from it's impossible to win to well better punch through the weakest link and you _might_ survive. But she had, hopefully, figured out a way that they could all walk away from this. With the keyword being hopefully.

But before she could give orders, the moment of stunned silence passed. Then all hell broke loose. The massive enemy TDs opened fire as one, a thundering booming roar that seemed to shake the ground to it's core. The shots went wide, but it was still terrifying. "All tanks, go mobile. Aim for the turret ring or lower plate when it comes to shooting at those TDs from the front, but if possible try to get to their sides or rear! However those Light Tanks don't look like they can take a solid punch, you land a solid hit and you should knock it out. All tanks engage!" Maho ordered sharply, and her Tiger lurched into motion, then all hell broke loose.

The enemy tanks all fired as one, but for some reason, most likely due to the fact that the FCS on the MBTs had likely been damaged or the guns had been thrown out of alignment with the sights. The shots missed, spectacularly. However, it bought them valuable time to really begin to maneuver.

Ooarai's Tiger Porsche bounded forward at a startlingly fast pace for a machine it's size. The massive machine bounded forward, charging the enemy TDs, the Chi-Nu and Panzer IV right behind it. The enemy TDs unleashed their shots, which crashed hard into Leopon, but the HE rounds hit at an odd angle and failed to even detonate. The massive rounds went wind-milling end over end off the turret cheeks, causing even more damage to the Tiger (P) with just the amount of force that they impact with which this time, included tearing a good portion of the turret armor on the left turret cheek away.

The 88mm gun on the Tiger sang in response, the spike round landing directly in front of one of the enemy tanks. The Type-3's gun boomed and surprisingly scored hit, but the round bounced off. Then the Panzer IV fired and amazingly scored a hit, round fired flew _down the barrel_ of the 152mm gun on one of the TDs. A split second later, the enemy tank erupted like a fiery volcano, it's turret being thrown off the hull with tremendous force.

"Gunner, hit one of the Light Tanks, tank three you're with us." Maho ordered as the battlefield simply degenerated into chaos. Shells flew alarming frequency as both sides exchanged furious fire. However it became clear that the Light Tanks the enemy was using were hopelessly outclassed. It seemed like every thirty seconds or so one of those things would take a hit and just come to a stop or would simply explode.

"Come right, come right!" Maho ordered sharply as her Tiger swung hard to the right, in order to bring it's frontal armor to bear against another light tank. Just as another loud detonation rolled across the field. Maho risked a quick glance and nodded in approval for another enemy TD was down; with seemingly little effort, the Ooarai Panzers and the Kuromorimine Panzers had easily decided their targets, with Ooarai going after the TDs and Kuromorimine was sticking it to the enemy Light Tanks.

The Tiger finished traversing sharply. "Gunner traverse left twelve degrees, driver stop on my mark, gunner prepare to fire on my mark." Maho ordered and the turret rotated, till it was pointing almost directly at an enemy tank. "MARK!" Maho said. The tank came to a sudden lurching halt, it had just finished rocking when the eighty-eight roared, with a loud boom and a scream of twisted steel, the enemy light tank exploded it's turret tossed into the air like a toy.

" _Am I the only one left?!"_ Fang bellowed suddenly sharply over the radio. " _SHIT! We are! REQUESTING BACKUP!"_ amid the end of both the remaining Tank Destroyers three of the remaining light tanks. Leaving only one.

" _Well, well, well. Looks like someone has just run-out of friends."_ Erika said in a tone that would be more befitting if Katyusha used it, however it still fit.

" _Yo, Erika! You're broadcasting on an open mic, what you are saying, it can be heard by anyone with a receiver. Kill it."_ Nakajima said sharply.

As if to punctuate that point, the last remaining enemy light tank suddenly spun a hundred eighty degrees and roared into the woods. "After it!" Maho barked, knowing that if that thing managed to link back up with the rest of the MBTs, they could be in a lot of trouble. With that in mind the tanks roared after the Chinese ZTQ-115, in an attempt to chase it down.

" _Yating! Where the hell are you?! I am not sure how long I can lead these guys on a mere chase through the woods! They know what they are doing when it comes to shooting on the move without gun stabilizers!"_ Fang cried out once again over the comm. As a shot from Anglerfish and Rikato's Jagdpanther landed very close to his tank. With bits of snow and dirt being sprinkled liberally on the tank by the near misses.

" _Fang, where the hell are you?"_ Another voice, this one with a different accent asked.

" _Thank god commander! I am trying, to figure that part out myself, I HOLY SHIT! DRIVER TURN RIGHT! RIGHT!"_ Fang suddenly started yelling as a massive form suddenly appeared, the Light Tank swerved, causing a shot from tank three to miss, barely and resulted in a tremendous fireball being thrown skyward.

" _Son of a bitch! Fang you accidently lead them right to our flank!"_ Someone, presumably Yating bellowed in shock. As Fang led them right into the flank, shells flew through the air and ripped into the relatively thinly armored sides of the Chinese MBTs, each blow that penetrated resulted in a mission-killed tank.

Then the ZTZ-110s traversed and the battle was joined.

* * *

While almost everyone was fighting against all of those Chinese tanks and Tank Six in the Kuromorimine formation was off god only knew where. However a good distance away from either group was Ooarai Girls High School's M3 Lee. The tank had lost a track, and thus the crew was working feverishly to fix it so they could get moving again.

Yet unknown to them, two ten-man squads were approaching. These two squads were Chinese Xiàng Riflemen and Chinese Dà xīngxīng Combat Engineers.

The Riflemen had best been described as some sort of cross between the EFEC Kommandos and SGB Wolves, with some extras thrown in. These riflemen were armed with QBZ-16 Bullpup Assault Rifles, the weapons were based on the QBZ-95B Assault Rifle, but the barrels had polygonal rifling, were similar in appearance to degree to the American M8, but it had an upper receiver based on the Flat top variant of the QBZ-95, the weapon had an integrated Holographic weapon sight, it was chambered in 5.8x42mm DBP14 which was an improved variant of the DBP10 for improved lethality and armor penetration capability, used thirty-round detachable box magazines, it had a 16in barrel. Other weapons included in the squad was QBB-16 which was the SAW variant of the QBZ-16 it was similar to the QBZ-16 but had some key differences, mainly a longer twenty-one inch barrel and it could use either standard rifle magazines or larger fifty, eighty, or hundred round drum magazines. Also in use was a bit of an oldie, the QBU-88 DMR, simply to keep it simple, as well as the HJ-12 single-shot ATGM launcher again for simplicity. However three members of the squad carried the ZH-18, which was an improved variant of the ZH-05 Objective Individual Combat Weapon, but it was based on the QBZ-16, like other OICWs it was unique looking, with a 5.8x42mm barrel fed by 30-round magazines and above that barrel was the barrel for a 35mm single-shot bolt-action grenade launcher capable of firing non-lethal, shotgun, impact, airburst, and door breaching grenades.

However the Chinese Combat Engineers on the other hand, had been described as the bastard cross between SGB Bears and JSF Pioneers. They were mainly armed with what appeared to be a copy of the Magpul PDR-C, the big difference being that it had an 8in barrel, polygonal rifling, an integrated holographic sight, was chambered in 5.8x42mm DBP14 which was fired from fifty round four-column magazine, it had a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute, it's designation was FGQ-20 or _Fángyù gōngjí qiāng, 2020_ which translated literally into Defense Assault Gun, 2020. However weaponry also included PF-98s rocket launchers, HJ-12s ATGMs, WXQ-21s handheld micro guns, most recently JMB-23s, plus sapper equipment, etc. Despite their heavy armor and heavy weaponry however, they couldn't go head-to-head with an equal force of riflemen at combat ranges beyond 200 to 250 meters and even at those ranges it would be tough, due to the shorter barrels of their primary weapons which meant less muzzle velocity.

But tangling with one _wouldn't_ be a walk in the park at all, the WXQ-21, literally _Wéixíng xuánzhuǎn qiāng, 2021_ translates into Micro rotary gun, 2021. It was about eighteen pounds in weight, had six twelve inch barrels, and fired 5.8x42mm DBP14 rounds at a blistering speed of 2,500 rounds per minute. Biggest downside to the weapon, was that in order to carry enough ammunition to make the thing worthwhile, Engineers who carried the weapon had to carry an extraordinary amount of ammunition, this was somewhat remedied by the powered exosuit that the Engineers wore to help them move so much stuff.

Yet, the newest toy that the Chinese Combat Engineers had was the JMB-23, literally _Jīguāng màichōng bùqiāng, 2023_ which translates literally to Pulse Laser Rifle, 2023. It had a sleek and highly futuristic looking appearance, but it only had one setting, non-lethal, another issue the thing had was weight the rifle itself weighed in at an astounding _twenty-three_ pounds while the disposable single-use powerpacks weighed in at _ten_ pounds and only allowed for exactly _four_ shots before being totally depleted. But despite the drawbacks it was _very effective_ , using a solid-state laser, it was able to create a small amount of plasma in midair by being focused to a point. When the laser pulse hit the target, the plasma detonated, creating a powerful shockwave which was capable of knocking someone off their feet and was capable of incapacitating someone by causing the nerves in the area hit to go to maximum stimulation without any physical damage being dealt.

"Contact, Sergeant. It's a tank, looks like that Lee." One of the riflemen said, pointing out the tank. On NVG the thing wasn't that hard to miss, it stood out like a sore thumb.

"Agreed, I got eyes on looks like the commander and three crew members doing maintenance. Which means this is the one that Lieutenant Fang managed to disable. Alright, remember Non-lethal _only_ even if you're engaged. Remember if they engage us, it's not because their military, but because they are only doing it in terms of self-defense, because we have invaded _their_ land, according to some reports _we_ have had cases of misidentification and engaged them, so they are bound to be a little jumpy." The squad leader for the riflemen, Sergeant Lai Cheng said briskly.

"Understood, sir!" the riflemen responded.

"Right, Sergeant Cheng want my boys to take the shot?" the squad leader of the Engineer squad, Sergeant Tan Fu asked.

Cheng nodded in response. "Yes, I do. We're doing this entirely clean, no blood. Which means less-than-lethal weapons." He said.

"Right, Specialist Ling! Take them down with your laser." Fu barked.

The female Engineer nodded before slinging her FGQ-20 and unslinging her JMB-23. She peered through the sight, bringing its crosshairs right onto the small of the back of the young person in the middle, a light brunette. The range was a little over two hundred twenty-five meters. She was about to squeeze the trigger, when suddenly she stood up and took a couple of steps toward them. Obviously trying to get feeling back in her legs since it was cold. Seeing that this was her chance, she put the crosshairs right on the stomach of the girl and then pulled the trigger.

It was almost impossible to tell that the weapon had been fired as there was no muzzle report, muzzle flash, or recoil that signaled that the weapon had been fired. In some ways it was incredibly subtle. The effect of the shot hitting its target however _wasn't_ subtle. The girl that Ling had targeted was physically knocked off her feet and hit the ground screaming in response to agony that simply wasn't _there_ , the sort of pain that might result in one is hit with a slug round from a shotgun an ungodly type of pain, but it was all stimulated.

Her two companions bolted to their feet and began to ran toward her. There faces panic stricken as they ran to their companion. Ling shifted her aim, waited a few seconds and then fired again. This time a young girl with short black hair was hit and the results were very similar to the first girl. The last one skidded to stop and scrambled to the girl Ling had just hit, she managed to pry away her fingers from her midsection and recoiled in shock at seeing no wound. That's when a laser shot struck her full in the side and caused her to hit the ground clutching her side screaming in pain.

"Crap! Advance! Private Qiang and Private Shen! We got two runners, chase them down whatever you do, _do not fire your weapons_! GO!" Cheng roared and the Engineers and Riflemen advanced, two broke into a run and went after the two young girls they had seen go running into woods. The commander of the tank, suddenly brought out what appeared to be a likely stolen QCW-05 SMG. "Ling" Fu ordered calmly.

Ling came to a stop and calmly fired her JMB-23 once more. The invisible laser pulse hit her target right in the arm. By some miracle she wasn't knocked out of her cupola. But, it had the intended effect, she dropped the SMG, which hit the rim of the cupola, bounced, then fell to the snow, while she clutched her arm tightly and yelled in pain. That allowed Cheng to sprint forward, climb onto the back of the Lee, and then physically hauled the commander right out of the commander's hatch. Then easily dismounted from the back of the Lee.

Shortly afterward, the two privates who had been sent after the two that had gone running into the woods came back, with two the other two crew members walking dejectedly in front of them. They looked a little roughed up, probably from when they most likely got tackled or tripped.

"That, was, a little more, painful, then it should have been." Private Shen groaned as he walked forward.

"How so?" Cheng asked confused.

"Managed to tackle this one, only to eat first a punch to the gut, followed by a knee to the groin. Didn't help that in the process I hit my head on a tree root." Shen grated out, prodding a girl in the back who to be frank, looked angrily as hell; she had short blonde hair and was wearing glasses.

Azusa looked dejectedly at her teammates. "You alright, Azusa?" Saki asked suddenly, it surprised her, but it certainly made her feel better.

"Just wondering what the hell did they hit me with, that's all. One moment I am aiming my SMG at one of the Chinese then the next moment it felt like a red hot poker had been taken to my arm." Azusa replied shaking her head, the burning sensation was just about gone. But it had left her in bafflement to why she had suddenly been overcome with such pain.

"Come on you lot, up to your feet. I've already notified the CO about us capturing you. They're sending an IFV to pick-us up, two men from the group of JGSDF and US Army Troopers that we have captured, have been chosen to be ah you're chaperone so to speak." One of the soldiers said in heavily accented english.

"What's going to happen to us?!" Azusa asked, trying to get to her feet. But a Chinese Rifleman made sure she stayed on ground.

"You're being taken into protective custody, which means you're going to Hong Kong, to be specific a major apartment building that has been set aside for this purpose." The same man replied, which caused Azusa to sigh in relief.

As if on cue, the IFV arrived, it's engine roaring, the tracked monster came thundering into view. It was squat and low to the ground, the formidable turret that the machine mounted had a fearsome looking autocannon plus on each side of the turret a quad-pack of ATGMs, it was the sort of vehicle that looked like it could anywhere, do it what it wanted, and simply not give a fuck. The thing came skidding to a halt and the rear troop ramp lowered, revealing a rather spacious troop compartment. However one of the soldiers who had been chosen was the exact last man that they had been expecting: Lieutenant Takeda. The American however appeared to be a Sergeant.

Before any of them could put up any argument, they were herded onto the IFV and then the ramp closed and the engine roared as the IFV went thundering into motion. However, if anything them being taken to relative safety would prove to be a blessing in disguise.

* * *

The battle against that SDSF team was finally over, they had caused the survivors and the few remaining vehicles that they hadn't destroyed to run. But they were down to only a third of what they had started with in terms of cannon ammunition. Of course, the fact that Rabbit Team was missing and that the majority of the enemy transports had managed to escape, it made them wonder what had happened.

Still, now they were on their way to the Coastal Road, partially because fighting through a force of that magnitude and surviving was impossible. Thus they had been forced to backtrack a little and then get to the coastal road, which was bound to take most of the night.

Still, while Maho could understand why her younger sister was so torn up, particularly because well four teammates dead and six missing that would be painful for anyone. But sadly, she was lucky, Maho had lost _nine_ teammates within one day and had seen another crippled for life. She wanted to make it easier for Miho to understand that at the moment she was lucky, she had seen far worse than she had. But, not that it mattered, the past day had certainly been tough for all of them. Yet despite herself she found herself she found herself thinking back to when they defeated those MBTs and the immediate aftermath.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Fires crackled steadily through the air as twelve burning MBTs and eight IFVs dotted the ground, the remaining IFVs and the two MBTs were fleeing. But hot on the heels of the rapidly retreating Chinese vehicles came the Sensha-dou vehicles, guns firing, tracks clattering, engines roaring. Then suddenly the two MBTs spun one-hundred eighty degrees, bringing their guns and frontal armor to bear, while at the sametime shifting into reverse and driving at some thirty miles per hour going _backworks_.

" _Oh fuck! The bastards took a page out of our playbook!"_ Erwin yelled in surprise as the main guns on both MBTs spat fire. One shell missed, the other didn't. It hit the Luchs square in the gun barrel and the 130mm FS-HE-FRAG round detonated and literally shattered the main gun like glass. " _They destroyed the main gun! FUCK!"_ Himi roared over the radio in alarm.

" _Now_ that _is improbable aiming skills, how the hell did they manage that shot?"_ Isa asked in surprise over the radio as the P 26's main gun spat a projectile. The round predictably missed it's target.

Maho's Tiger fired again, to her incredible surprise the shot actually hit. The eighty-eight millimeter spike munition blew the track off one the tanks, causing the vehicle to suddenly arrest it's backward motion and it violently swung to one side and came to a rough and jarring halt, sitting practically broadside on to the rushing Sensha-Dou tanks. The tanks volley fired their guns and at least three shots impaled the thing and vehicle simply became an inferno.

" _IFVs, engage smoke generators, we'll be right behind you."_ A voice, it sounded like Yating growled over the radio. There wasn't a response but the IFVs started emitting a large plume of thick white smoke and quickly disappeared. Then the MBT fired smoke Grenades and large plumes of smoke appeared in front of the powerful vehicle. The Sensha-dou machines roared into the first smoke screen set by the MBT and just as they emerged from it, they caught a glimpse of the last remaining MBT retreating rapidly into it, it's from getting vaguer and vaguer with each passing second.

The tanks fired one massive volley into the smoke in the general direction of the MBT and was awarded with an enormous flash of fire and smoke. " _Let's go after those IFVs!"_ Tsuga chortled clearly excited about the fact that they had won.

" _Negative, we do that we could run face first into an ambush, plus our armor can only be trusted to stop HE-Frag rounds, AP rounds from autocannons, and HESH rounds. ATGMs, Spike rounds from enemy tanks, or HEAT rounds from enemy tanks? Nope, can't stop that, unless we get_ stupid _lucky."_ Erika replied tersely.

"Normally I would say we should pursue, but due to them setting up a smoke screen. We can't pursue because we don't have thermal sights." Maho said, sighing and slightly miffed at the fact that the remains of the enemy force had managed to get away.

" _Alright, how about we give our tanks a cursory once over to check for well new damage to our vehicles."_ Nakajima laminated.

Maho had been looking at the results from a 105mm FS-HE-FRAG round impacting the side of the turret of her Tiger. It's number '212' was barely visible under scorch mark plus the number was all warped out of true by a dent. That was going to be a pain to fix.

She heard a crunch of snow under a boot. She turned and saw Yukari, looking worried. "What is it, Miss Akayami?" Maho asked calmly. Yukari went pink in surprise.

"I was wondering if it's okay if I could possibly slap some sense back into Miho. I decided to ask first, just because…" Yukari trailed off, her face still pink.

"Wait, what?" Maho asked in reply, totally confused as to how Yukari would be able to slap some sense back into Miho. Sighing Yukari gestured over to the Panzer IV, Maho looked in that direction and sighed. Miho was sitting on the turret, her legs pulled up to her chest, looking utterly _broken_. "Okay, you've lost me. How in the _hell_ would you slapping Miho help her revert to who she was?" Maho asked even more confused.

Yukari looked like she just wanted to facepalm. "It's generally part of something planned to make someone get a hold of themselves. But, I figured that it would likely be wise to ask you first. Just to avoid anything, unpleasant." she said somehow managing to look incredibly bashful in the process.

Maho nodded in response. "Oh, that makes sense I guess, if you want to go ahead with it. You have my approval, just don't be overly rough on it." she said, giving Yukari the sort of look that an older sister who would move heaven and earth to do anything including protecting her younger sister gave when they seriously meant something.

Yukari nodded in response and then went to salute, which struck Maho as odd, but then she realized what their situation was and grabbed her hand. "Don't do that! If a sniper sees you saluting me, they will likely take my head off with a bullet!" Maho hissed. Yukari's eyes widened in alarm and she nodded vigorously in understanding. Maho let go of Yukari's hand. "Sorry about that, it's just; my biggest fear right now is dying when Miho is in such a fragile state. If I kick the bucket, that may drive Miho to suicide, which I don't want at all if anything I want her, preferably both of us to survive this." she said shaking her head.

Yukari nodded in full understanding. She went to turn away, but remembered something. "By the way, you can call me by my first name, Yukari; I don't mind." she said with a smile and Maho nodded in response. She then walked away, but mainly curious but also wanting to see how this was going to go.

"Hey Miho! We got to talk!" Yukari announced as she clambered up onto the Panzer.

"I don't want too, I am going through a lot. Alright, I-I-I had to kill someone just a few hours ago! Plus earlier today I got four friends killed at least! I am nothing but a to-" Miho began to blubber to such a degree it made Maho realize just how _badly_ her younger sister was hurting.

Thankfully Yukari had a plan. With a loud _smack_ she slapped Miho's cheek, hard. "GODDAMNIT! GET A HOLD YOURSELF MIHO!" Yukari shouted earning more than a few gasps of surprise, mainly at the fact that Yukari could be pretty loud. "Your, Nishizumi Miho, for christ sakes! Last year you lead Ooarai Girls High School, a school most people haven't even _heard_ of, right to the finals of 63rd Annual Sensha-dou tournament, which may I remind you is a school that hasn't even done Sensha-dou in twenty years! Then just a few months ago with a scratch team that had almost no experience in terms of working together managed to defeat the best damn Sensha-dou _University_ level team in the entire nation, possibly one of the best in the _world_. Plus, our fallen teammates wouldn't be able to bear seeing you like this! They would wish to see you continue leading like you always did when we were in a match and they would get knocked out, to keep your head level and think of a plan to win, just like against Viggen in the first round at the start of _this_ year's tournament!" Yukari snapped firmly.

Miho blinked in surprise and to Maho's immense satisfaction and glee. The vast majority of the despair that was in her sister's eyes simply dropped away, replaced by a gaze of iron-hard determination, a gaze that Maho had learned and knew in her heart, that whenever that look appeared in her sister's eyes. Well, it was generally a good idea to have at least four separate game plans ready to go.

* * *

Maho was brought out of the flashback when suddenly, over the frequency that they had agreed on, Miho spoke up. " _Anzu, do you have a moment?"_ Miho asked, she no longer sounded like herself. Instead of happy and outgoing, she sounded depressed and heart-broken which was too be expected, Maho expected that her sister would improve with time, but it certainly wouldn't be for a while.

" _Yes, I do Miho. What's up?"_ Anzu replied, sounding cheerful as usual, if only for the fact that she was doing it just to make sure that everyone could keep their hopes up about the fact that they could survive.

" _I think, that in light with what has happened. I have a request."_ Miho said, it sounded like her voice was close to breaking. _What are you doing Miho?_ Maho thought grimly before she got a major surprise.

" _What is it? If it's doable I will try my best to make happen."_ Anzu replied, still somewhat cheerfully.

" _I've been thinking about this for a while. Well, ever since today turned into the day from hell, with what happened."_ the line went silent for a few moments, it was obvious that this must have been regarding Duck Team. " _I want to have added to the club roster for next semester, or even as soon as everything calms down onboard the school ship after we get you back aboard, but I want the Volleyball club restarted."_ Miho said, her tone of voice clearly evident that she was holding back tears.

Complete and utter silence reigned for several seconds. Even the sounds of the tracks clattering and the rumble of the engines seemed to quiet down quite a bit, as if in shock from Miho's statement. Maho was stunned, to put it simply. Particularly because she had sort of figured that Duck Team was crewed by members of the Volleyball Club, but she had no idea that Ooarai's Volleyball Club had been disbanded.

" _I'll do one better, in addition to Sensha-dou and Track and Field, I will see what I can do for actually making Volleyball a school sport for Ooarai. You're right, we never would have made it if it hadn't been for Duck Team during the tournament last year and certainly against Selection they played a key role in us winning. It's the least I can do Miho. Believe it."_ Anzu said sounding as if she had just made some sort of vow.

" _Thanks Anzu, thanks so much for doing this."_ Miho replied, sounding over-joyed at managing to accomplish something.

Inside the Panzer IV however, Miho had silent tears streaming down her cheeks, the loss of Duck Team and being forced to end Koume's life had really taken a toll on her. Yet, she knew that even if she had attempted to save Duck Team, it would have resulted in her getting severely burned and without a burn ward, she would have been utterly _screwed_. It made her wonder, was she good enough to lead everyone.

Thankfully, Yukari noticed this. "Miss Nishizumi, if you want to, you can rest for a while. I can be the temporary commander and Saori, if you're feeling up to it, you can be the loader." She said.

"Eh? Why? I don't even know how to load that thing." Saori stated, confused as to why Yukari was proposing such a thing.

"Don't worry about not knowing how to load the main gun, I'll teach you. It's easier than you think. All you have to do is just remember what shell type is which and I'll do that. But, personally Miho needs a chance to rest, the last thing we need is her to be dead on her feet." Yukari said with a smile.

It was true, one couldn't be an adequate commander when they were dead on their feet. Plus considering the light snoring that was coming from Hana, it was clear she was enjoying a nap as well.

Saori quickly came to this realization as well. "Alright, that makes sense." she said. Miho nodded in response before transmitting. "All panzers pull to the side of the road for a moment, Yukari is going to take over command of Anglerfish and Saori is going to become the loader for a while; Yukari says I need to get some sleep and to be frank I agree with her."

There was a flurry of replies and Mako brought the tank to the edge of the road, making it easier for Miho, Saori, and Yukari to switch positions. For Miho, it felt incredibly awkward sitting deeper in the hull. It was slightly louder, but nowhere near as loud as a tank was when you were on the ground next to it, or a C-5M landing basically right in front of you or flying right overhead at a little higher than treetop level.

Yet, for some strange reason; the constant rumbling of the engine and the motion of the tank as it rolled along seemed to work almost as if Miho was back on the school ship, lying in her own bed and thus within only a couple of minutes, the folds of sleep took her in, but what followed, was the most terrifying dream Miho had ever had.

* * *

 _Dream_

The sounds of battle were awesome and terrifying. Inside the Panzer IV, it was somewhat well light, hot, humid, and smelled of iron. Then the radio crackled. " _Mihosa! I've lost all contact with Klara's Company! They are defending a vital area of town, if the enemy achieves a breakthrough we are done-for!"_ The sharp voice of Katyusha rang through the fighting compartment.

"What's their position?!" Miho replied crisply.

" _Just east of the Oki-bashi Bridge! I am sending two SU-122-44s and a JS-2M to provide support! Be careful!"_ Katyusha snapped back quickly, from the sounds of it she had been ragged, pushed to her very limit and then beyond it, but was still going because she _had too_.

"Hai! Thanks for the support! Alligator Team, you're with us!" Miho said quickly.

" _Ryoukai!"_ Isa quipped.

Together the Panzer IV Ausf. H and the P 26 advanced toward the bridge where Klara's company was located. As they drove forward, they passed a pair of American made M48s, their turrets and hulls were covered liberally with what appeared to be ERA blocks, although they could be NERA blocks. Near the M48s which were guarding the entrance to the train station which seemed to be being used as a command center. They quickly came to the main road that led to the bridge, there they met with Alligator team, as well as two Stalin Hammers and the JS-2M that Katyusha promised.

The JS-2M was number 011 and the proud Heavy Tank had certainly seen hard combat. Numerous dents, pockmarks, scratches, and blackened areas adorned the monster's armor and forest green paint, the muzzle break of the powerful 122mm D-25T gun was nearly black from powder fouling. The vehicle had what appeared to additional armor welded to the thing.

The two SU-122-44s, were in a similar situation in terms of appearance, their gun muzzles nearly black from powder fouling, numerous dents, dings, scratches, pockmarks, and blackened areas adorning their armor. They too had some NERA although it could be ERA adorning the front and sides, but not much.

"Panzer vor!" Miho ordered and the tanks roared into motion, quickly thundering out of town like a posse after a criminal in the wild west. However as they advanced, they quickly found evidence of war. Buildings shattered and burned out, many simply piles of rubble, vehicles crushed, blown apart, upside down, or on their sides, fires crackling sending long plumes of black smoke snaking skyward, the highly muffled incessant thud of autocannon fire, the rumbling crash of tank cannon fire, the sharp cracks and distinctive pops of small arms, burned out tanks, IFVs, and APCs dotting the landscape, etc.

They were near the edge of town when they passed their first group of knocked out Sensha-dou Tanks, three Pravda T-54 Mod 1947s and a T-44-122 and six Selection University Tanks, two M48A2 Pattons, two M41 Walker Bulldogs, a single Conqueror Heavy Tank, and a Tortoise Tank Destroyer lay destroyed, their armor cracked open effortlessly. In the case of the Walker Bulldogs, one of the Pattons, and the T-44 their turrets were no longer attached to the hull of the tank. The other tanks were blackened messes, charred black from burning ferociously.

Miho knew just from looking at them, that those tanks would require a _complete and utter_ _ **rebuild**_ in order to be brought back into fighting shape. Still as they drove past that final checkpoint, Miho made sure to wave at the commander of one of the two T95 Gun Motor Carriages that now stood guard. There monsterous 105mm guns, plus twelve inches of RHA with siliceous-cored armor meaning a type of composite armor, plus the fact that the gun mantle was _another_ twelve inches of steel, meant they could no sell just about anything. But if they got flanked they would die.

However as they approached the bridge, they quickly saw that something was wrong. Just _wrong, wrong, wrong_. At least eight plumes of thick oily smoke was rising skyward, cutting dark shafts of inky black through the partly clouded sky. The harsh booms of large caliber cannon fire signaled that something was very wrong.

Then four large thunderous explosions tore through the air at nearly the same time and shortly afterward more plumes of smoke started rising into the air. No more cannon fire resounded, it had gone deathly quiet. Then they appeared roaring over the bridge that Klara's Company had been assigned to protect. A small mixed force of tanks and tank destroyers. Five ZTZ-110s and five PTZ-110s, there bodies were painted a contrasting dark brown camouflage, with the corners of the hull were painted white and the corners of turret were painted yellow.

The enemy opened fire on the move and almost instantly scored several direct hits that ripped the JS-2M apart with horrifying ease. Killing the entire crew effortlessly before they had a chance to scream. Then Anglerfish, Alligator, and the two Stalin Hammer's opened fire. Shells screamed down range and bounced off, then the enemy charged, just before they would have merged. They suddenly swerved and seemingly drifted around them with _alarming_ ease.

Miho shouted for them to traverse just as ten shots rang out as seemingly one, while the gun tubes of the enemy vomited fire and one of the SU-122-44s simply detonated as if it had suffered a direct hit from a 500-pound bomb with multiple plumes of earth erupting around them. Then just as they brought themselves around, the enemy charged and blitzed right passed them, in process one of the PTZ-110s ate a HEAT round from Stalin's Hammer and with a cataclysmic detonation blew it's turret clean off the hull.

Then one of the enemy tanks rammed the SU-122-44, shoving it aside with such violent force that one of the treads snapped instantly and the tank destroyer spun an entire 1080 degrees before coming to a stop. Another set of cannon shots rang out and the helpless SU-122-44 exploded in violent fashion. "RETREAT!" Miho screamed in panic. The Panzer IV and the P 26 lurched into motion trying to get away, but suddenly a cannon shot rang out and the engine area of the P 26 went up like a volcano, fire, smoke, and debris were hurled away from the tank with stunning ease.

" _Kommandant! We've been hit, we're immobilized! Bailing out!"_ Isa shouted in panic. Sure enough the crew bailed out and began to run like hell back toward the final checkpoint.

" _How cute, they think that since they are students, that when their tank is destroyed they can bail out and run. Gault Three, show them how we treat enemy tankers that have bailed out."_ The commander of the enemy force growled coldly.

" _With pleasure Dr."_ The commander of the tank in question replied, his tone of voice chilling Miho to the core.

"Hana! Stop that one!" Miho shouted in alarm pointing the tank in question out. But it wasn't to be, another tank, its turret rotated so it wouldn't damage gun rammed them at a high rate of speed. Sending the Panzer IV spinning like a top, crunching one side of Schurzen add-on armor, and causing both tracks to snap, after spinning a good four and half times the tank came to a lurching halt.

The enemy tank that was bearing down on Isa and her crew suddenly opened fire, with it's coaxial machine gun and commander's cupola mounted grenade launcher. Even from some sixty meters away, the screams of Isa and her crew as they were coldly slaughtered as effortlessly as a chainsaw would cut down an Oak tree was heart-shattering.

"No! This can't be happening!" Miho muttered in mortal fear as three tanks blitzed her Panzer, the 75mm gun on her Panzer fired three times in rapid succession, but the shots failed to penetrate. "So this is how it ends." She continued as three tank guns flashed as one.

"MIHO!" Yukari shouted in mortal fear, just as three APFSDS rounds ripped into her Panzer.

A searing hot pain and a violent compression blew her right out of the cupola, a split second later the turret of the Panzer IV was blown right off the hull. She struggled to get to her feet, horrified at what had just occurred, but another enemy tank began to rumble toward her. It's coaxial and commander's cupola machine gun flashed angrily.

* * *

Miho awoke with a start and a panicked cry. Her heart was thundering like an MG 42 and she had sheen of cold sweat on her brow, breathing hard. She looked around frantically and then after realizing where she was, managed a breath. _It was just a bad dream._ She thought with relief but still shuddering at the thought of having such a nasty and vivid nightmare.

"You alright, Miporin?" Saori asked curiously.

"Yeah, I am fine. Just a bad dream, that's all. Not surprising considering what has happened today." Miho replied, giving Saori a warm smile.

Saori nodded in understanding. Yet Miho knew she was likely bound to be traumatized for life. Considering that she had seen things that no one, particularly someone her age should ever see.

* * *

 **AN: And that chapter is done. In case you're wondering, yes we did take three of the Ace Squadrons from ACZ and converted them into sections for a Chinese Combined Arms Warfare Team, but we gave the teams overall Chinese Names where possible.**

 _ **If you want to follow along, then just Google Bunsui, Niigata. The 116 Bridge over the Shinano River is the one in question that is being fought over, and, except for the coastal road, which would be difficult to travel down for lack of cover, and the bridge at Osa, is the only crossing for miles. It's strategically vital to both sides.**_

 **As for the AGM-130, it's a real weapon, being derived from the GBU-15 with the only difference being that it has a rocket motor attached, but the GBU-15 itself is basically a Mark 84 unguided bomb with a guidance kit slapped on, the Mark 84 is currently third in terms of amount of explosive content when it comes to air-dropped ordnance used by the US Military, behind the BLU-82 Daisy Cutter and the GBU-43/B MOAB. The Mark 84 weighs in at 2,000 pounds and contains 945 pounds of explosive in this case Composition H6, and can create a crater 50 feet (15.2 m) wide and 36 feet (11.0 m) deep plus they can send lethal fragments out to a distance of 400 yards (365.8 m) from point of detonation.**

 _ **To put the blast yield into perspective, it's 4 times as powerful as one of the bombs dropped from WWII bombers.**_

 **So yeah, the shockwave punting Maho's Tiger I around, is very much believable.**

 **Plus the reason that we heard the A-20s despite the fact that they were going Mach 2.8, is simply because they needed to slow down quick otherwise they would have had a Time on Target window of mere seconds, so they had to slow down which meant a combination of chopping power and doing high-g turns, thus allowing the sound of the turbofans to reach them. It also got them nicely within Sidewinder range. However this is a writer's cut variant of the Razorback, the biggest difference being that the wings are swept-forward at all times and don't move into that position when they are making their attack runs, they also have more powerful engines because the Razorback has more armor and weighs more. It's also armed with a lethal variant of the GAU-8 that will be explained in detail in the writer's cut equipment chapter.**

 **Also, if the keen eyed of you manage to spot the Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. and Endwar references, good show.**

 **One last thing before the translation section, Miho's nightmare is actually believable. It's a manifestation of her fears of what could happen to her and her friends. The fact that she actually might die.**

 _ **Depending on how the interview goes, the updates may slow down. It will be an on call job, so I may find myself with very little time.**_

 **Translations/acronyms:**

 **Diànqīng: Indigo**

 **Yínsè Banshees: Silver Banshees**

 **Fǔlàn: Rot**

 **Huǒ: Fire**

 **Jigoku no chūi o kure: Give them hell lieutenant**

 **Zhùkǒu: Shut Up**

 **Xiàng: Elephant**

 **Dà xīngxīng: Gorilla**

 **NOTAR: No Tail Rotor**


	6. The Road to Niigata Part 4

**AN: Alright, let's get this show on the road. Here is another exciting chapter of Girls Und Panzer Legends. So our heroes after escaping from Bunsui and all of that chaos will have a long night ahead of them, but one that ends on a good note, sort of. Anything you wish to add Baron?**

 _ **To paraphrase an older song, busy days are here again. It's been hectic, but we're back on this train.**_

* * *

 _December 22nd, 2025_

 _0015 hours_

 _Coastal Road, Niigata Prefecture, Japan_

Miho supposed that they were lucky in a way. They hadn't had that much bad luck, besides losing Duck Team, herself being forced to kill Koume, and of course God-only knowing where Rabbit Team went. Yet, as they were approaching Niigata they heard the rumble of artillery guns, the shriek of MLRSs, the roaring rumble of engines, the constant cracks and pops of small arms fire. It was all beginning to build, sounding like some incredible symphony of destruction.

Not that it mattered, however. Miho was relieved that it was finally coming to an end. They were approaching Niigata at a high rate of speed, finally able to make considerable progress in terms of heading towards Niigata. Mainly because for some reason, they hadn't encountered that much in terms of Chinese forces, it was weird.

"Erwin, do you find it weird that we haven't seen many enemy forces ever since we got on the Coastal Road?" Miho asked over the radio, she was feeling a lot better now. After Yukari doing what she did, it made her realize that it was pointless to be a moping wreck, focusing on her failures, and wondering what she could have done differently. She couldn't afford to do that, not when everyone was counting on her to lead them through this.

" _A little, but then again, Miho. What are the chances that someone would be stupid enough to head down the Coastal Road, considering it's insufficient easy to find cover._ " Erwin replied briskly.

" _If it's stupid but it works, then it isn't stupid._ " Nekota said in an amused tone.

"What do you mean with the saying 'If it's stupid but it works, then it isn't stupid'?" Miho asked confused.

" _Miho, the gist of it is that you do something that sounds incredibly_ stupid _and_ is _incredibly_ stupid _, but by some godforsaken miracle the plan you come up with despite being stupid works like a goddamned charm._ " Nekota said somewhat cheerfully.

" _Plus in this case, traveling down the Coastal Road like we are. It's one of those things were, well it is incredibly stupid. So stupid to a degree that we will probably surprise the hell out of the Chinese._ " Erwin said beginning to piece together why they hadn't seen that many Chinese forces.

" _Precisely, mainly because who would be stupid enough to go down the Coastal Road when Air Superiority is up in the air? Particularly considering the lack of cover along the Coastal Road, it would be suicidal thus that's why we aren't really seeing much in terms of hostile forces._ " Nekota said as everything suddenly _fit_ , why they weren't under constant attack. Mainly because the Chinese hadn't expected them or anyone for that matter to take a route that was well suicidal to take. Then again, they were students with barely a grasp on the art of modern warfare, the fact that they had an _incredible_ handicap; it was showing that they had lasted this long that while inexperienced in the art of war, they had a lot of luck so far.

But as they had all learned the hard way, luck in war was a fragile thing and something you couldn't depend on. Mainly because everything could be going for you and then without warning it could all come down like a disaster on wheels. It didn't help that war was random and at times seemingly struck people down like the prey of some great beast that had a desire to feed.

Miho shook her head, getting those morbid thoughts out of her head. The last thing she wanted to receive another harsh slap from Yukari in order to make her get her head out of the sand. Mainly because it had felt like she had been stung by an Asian Super Hornet, a big one without the poison thankfully, she was stung by one when she was seven, that had hurt alot, Miho had _never_ seen her sister so worried and _scared_ in her life. She sighed, it had been a long day, but she had to remain strong, for everyone. But, after everything that had happened she didn't _feel_ strong. Still, she had to overcome her inner demons at all costs mainly because everyone was depending on her. She groaned in dismay at the scope of the daunting task ahead of her.

But, in light of that, she looked up. A slight haze was in the sky, but there was still a large amount of stars visible tonight. All twinkling and sparkling in the night sky, it was a heart-warming sight, making her realize that there was infinite possibilities with the way that events could transpire, plain and simple.

Still, at least they were making good time for once toward Niigata, but at least they didn't have to fight through the utter hellhole that was Bunsui. But, to be frank Miho realized, they should have expected to see a major battle there. Partly because well, Bunsui was home to one of the few crossings of the Shinano River outside the city of Niigata for miles around; thus making it an _incredibly_ strategic location. Thus, they should have expected to see a battle going on.

"Yukari, how are we doing for shells?" Miho asked as they continued to advance. They had fired a lot of ammunition at the enemy, so they had to be getting low on shells.

Yukari looked at Miho from where she was sitting with half of her torso out of the tank. "Not great Nishizumi-dono. The Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. H has a capacity of eighty-seven shells for its main gun. We've fired roughly _fifty_ rounds, so our ammunition situation isn't the best. We got one smoke shell left, all five of our canister rounds, six High-explosive rounds, fifteen HEAT rounds, and ten APFSDS rounds left. So it's not great, but by my count we've destroyed at least a dozen enemy vehicles." Yukari said with a frown, which in turn caused Miho to frown. Their ammunition situation wasn't that good at all, they only had thirty-seven rounds remaining, which meant that if they got into a protracted engagement, it was very much possible that they could run out of ammunition.

If that were to happen well, then they would be well and truly screwed, no not screwed utterly _fucked_. So hopefully that wouldn't happen. But, considering how rotten their luck had been, it was bound to happen to them. Still, at least they hadn't encountered any enemies for a good while now, they had just about a straight shot to Niigata.

"After this, it's just a straight shot towards the port. However, that doesn't mean that you should let your guard down. It's a long way to go yet." She said calmly.

The tanks crested the hill, turned around the bend, and that's when everything went to hell.

Cannon fire was thundering right in front of them, tracers both red and green filled the air. " _HOLY SHIT!_ " Ritako bellowed as a projectile barely missed Miho's Panzer IV, screaming by at incredible speed.

They had driven right into the middle of a pitched battle, straight into the jaws of hell. " _Contacts to the front and right! Holy Christ! Just our luck! I can't tell what's out their! Jesus!_ " Nakajima chirped as another shell blitzed past the Tiger Porsche, barely missing the heavily damaged Heavy Tank.

Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse. _Crack!_ Multiple flares erupted in the sky, casting an orange glow over the battlefield and revealing just how badly they were in the shit. " _Oh Jesus._ " Anzu breathed, for engaging multiple friendly tanks was a company of roughly fifteen Chinese MBTs, judging by the cannon fire they had 125s which meant either ZTZ-59Gs, ZTZ-96s, or ZTZ-99s.

Yet beyond those vehicles fighting frantically for their lives was at least a dozen JGSDF Type 10 MBTs. Several JGSDF Type 89 IFVs moved forward and opened fire with autocannons, tracers slightly smaller than a tennis ball slashed through the air. While, multiple Chinese IFVs replied in kind with their own autocannon fire. Then just when it couldn't get any worse, several Chinese Z-10 Gunships roared overhead and opened fire on the Type 10s and Type 89s. Autocannon fire, rockets, and missiles hammered the JGSDF positions several IFVs were riddled and became infernos, while two Type 10s were hit by ATGMs and simply detonated. Their turrets being hurled into the air like a toy.

Then the crackle of rifle and machine gun fire reached their ears. Several times bullets plinked off the armor of Miho's Panzer. But her mind was already in overdrive trying to figure out what to do, then she got it. She barked out rapid fire orders. "Alright, all Panzers except for Anteater, Bear, and Alligator Teams engage the enemy ground vehicles, the Panzers I called out. Do something about those goddamned gunships. Panzer Vor!" she barked before buttoning up.

The various replies that she got made her proud, everyone knew how to handle themselves now when thrust into an unexpected situation. As the Panzers began to engage, sending shots right into the weak rear armor of the Chinese MBTs, Anteater's Type 3 fired a shot from its main gun. The 75mm HE round slammed into the back of one of the Z-10s and blew the back end of helo apart as a ball of fire and smoke erupted from the back, severing the tail boom. Now suddenly without the counter-force provided by the tail rotor, the Z-10 spun wildly out of control.

Sadly unlike the Z-25 though, the Z-10 didn't have an ejection seat; the helo slammed into the ground with violent force and slid a good ten meters before coming to a stuttering halt. Bear and Alligator Teams opened up with everything they had. Quickly downing two other helos, the remaining one whirled around and opened fire with it's autocannon, earning a stream of curses from Isa and Tsunga as they dove into the safety of the turrets of their tanks to avoid being hit by thirty millimeter fire, thus abandoning the MG that was mounted for the commander.

Then suddenly a missile streaked out from where the Japanese forces where. The Z-10 frantically deployed flares and chaff, but the JGSDF Type 91 Kai MANPAD ignored them and impacted the Z-10, doing major damage to it. The helo dropped like a rock flames spewing from one of its engines and the main rotor both having been brutally ripped apart. It slammed into the ground and simply broke apart into two major pieces with the remains promptly sliding for several meters, tearing a pair of trenches into the ground.

However, this time the battle after that was a rather simple affair. The Chinese got caught in a crossfire, they were forced to either traverse their turrets away from the Type 10s and expose the side and rear of their turrets to those MBTs or try and angle against targets to the rear. In the end it didn't matter, for the Type 10s easily outclassed the Chinese MBTs and thanks to the sudden appearance of threats to the rear they were caught in a brutal crossfire.

However, the Chinese didn't go quietly, before the last one was destroyed. The enemy MBTs destroyed three more Type 10s and certainly hit several others plus they destroyed at least four more Type 89 IFVs.

 _Alright, let's get to safety._ Miho thought before, suddenly the roar of turbofan engines filled the air. Someone shouted in alarm, but the warning was lost amid a thundering roar and the piercing whistle of bombs. Four single engine aircraft each emblazoned with the emblem of the PLAAF screamed overhead and the JGSDF line disappeared in what seemed to be hundreds of small explosions that ripped into the friendly positions with horrific results. It was clear that, while it arrived a little late to the party Chinese air-support had just cluster-bombed the Japanese forces. _Goddamnit all to hell, well fuck you bad luck, fuck you._ Miho thought grimly as she looked at the carnage that the Chinese had wrought upon the JGSDF positions. But, it was obvious that everything was starting to go to shit around Niigata.

The flares went out shortly afterward, veiling the battlefield in darkness. But it did little to hid the carnage, mainly because the vast majority of the tanks and vehicles were burning in someway shape or form, thanks to the glow of the fires it revealed that there were fourteen Type 10s were laying in various states of destruction as were ten Type 89 IFVs; some of the vehicles had been nailed by anti-tank fire, a few had distinctive damage from autocannon fire, and all the tanks and IFVs showed damage from the cluster bomb raid. "Thirteen, fourteen. Huh, that's strange. Usually a JGSDF Tank Company has sixteen MBTs. There's only fourteen lying destroyed here. So where are the other two?" Yukari said in bewilderment.

That got Miho's attention _real_ fast. "All Panzers, keep an eye out for two Type 10s! They still have to be around here somewhere, even as fast as they are they couldn't have gone too far and even if they did we would have heard them. Diesel-engine powered tanks aren't the quietest things in the world." She said and nodding at the flurry of replies.

" _Kommandant, contact. Three o'clock, looks like a Type 10._ " Came the report from one of the Jagdpanzer IVs. Miho looked through her binoculars at the indicated area and grimaced. Sure enough there was a Type 10 Hitomaru-shiki sensha MBT, but it was clearly destroyed for the armor had been cracked open effortlessly like a walnut taken to a nutcracker, flames licking softly out of the gashes in the thick composite armor. Clearly a victim of the cluster bombs that had been dropped.

That's when an engine rumbled and the other remaining Type 10 Hitomaru-shiki sensha burst out of the trees and pointed it's M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun, it's Type 74 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, _and_ it's 120mm/L44 smoothbore main gun at them all in about three seconds flat. Miho blinked the spots out of her eyes as they had been utterly dazzled by it's lights. But something looked familiar about this particular Type 10, she didn't know why since they all looked almost exactly alike but something just stood out about it, but Miho couldn't put her finger on it. That is until suddenly, the commander's hatch opened and a familiar face heaved herself out of the cupola.

"Ch-Chōno-sensei!" Miho sputtered in shock at seeing her Sensha-dō instructor, Ami Chōno, here of all places.

It didn't take long for Chōno-sensei's voice to reach her ears over the radio. " _Miho? Is that you? What the hell are you doing here? This is the middle of a goddamned war zone!_ " Ami said stunned.

"Sensei, that's complicated to explain and trust me. The story is a long one and something that you will want to be sitting down for." Miho said grimly.

" _What do you mean?_ " Ami asked, sounding confused but she had said it in a tone that had said 'explain now'.

" _Chōno-san, it's complicated but it started over twelve hours ago…_ " Maho said with sigh, beginning the long task of explaining what had befallen them. When she was done, Ami was silent for several moments obviously stunned at what had occurred.

" _Damnit, the fucking Chicoms it seems can't tell between foes and neutrals. Still, why the hell did you get caught up in that MLRS strike?_ " Ami asked curiously but with an undertone of anger.

"I think I know why, it's possible that whoever called in the strike spotted the Dragoons, thus instantly realized, somewhat correctly, that there were hostile forces in their rear and it needed to be dealt with." Miho said in tone that made it clear that she had figured out why they had come under that hellish artillery barrage.

" _We will work out everything later. But in the meantime, let's get you to Niigata. Mainly because we're on the clock, according to some intelligence that we have recently received. The line around Bunsui is starting to crumble, the Chinese moved in several armored divisions and are starting to stomp the defenders there, even with a JSF Combat Team it's highly unlikely that they will be able to hold. If they can destroy the bridge though, that will buy some valuable time. Alright all tanks move out._ " Ami said over the radio with an air of authority that Miho hadn't even heard before in her instructor. With a rumbling growl, the Type 10 spun and then started down the road.

"Panzer vor!" Miho ordered sharply and the machines lumbered into motion and went down the road, heading toward Niigata, Niigata Prefecture at best possible speed. Quickly leaving behind the ruins of Ami's tank company and a rifle company.

* * *

It wasn't until roughly 0135 hours that they arrived in Niigata. What they saw, was incredible. The city was almost completely unrecognizable compared to just three days ago when Miho first saw the city. The vast majority of the buildings were down, numerous trails of thick, gritty black smoke was going skyward from probably countless fires that were burning, casting a hellish orange pall on the entire city, helicopters and tiltrotors swarmed the skies, the thundering rumble of powerful artillery sounded, like the war drums of old, rocket artillery shrieked in a chorus as they sailed through the sky, the engines were growling and tracks clattering, large caliber tank cannons roared, autocannons thudded insistently, and to top it all off there was muted cracks and pops from small arms fire plus crackling from the fires. All of that noise seemed to meld together to form a great orchestra… a symphony of destruction and death.

"Damn, how badly are the Chinese pushing?" Yukari asked in wonderment.

" _Pretty damn hard, there's an JASDF Air Base in Niigata, so it stands to reason that the Chicoms want it and want it bad. The fact that this is also a deep water port capable of supporting up to three school ships at once and is one of only a four or so ports in the world that can do so. Which means that it can easily handle China's Aircraft Carriers thus meaning that securing this city, besides giving the Chinese a forward airbase it also gives them a nice deep water port._ " Ami said grimly over the radio -having somehow heard Yukari, granted they were all unbuttoned- looking at the harsh conflict that was taking place in the city.

" _Makes you wonder what the hell is the world coming too; that's for sure._ " Erwin said over the radio.

" _I got no clue, we can figure that out after we get aboard our respective school ships. But, let's get going and get the fuck out of here._ " Sodoko snapped angrily.

" _Whoa! Sodoko, language!_ " Mako hissed loud enough that the radio talker picked it up, earning a round of laughter from everyone mainly because it was so incredibly funny.

"Sensei, what do we do next? I have to ask because well, how are we supposed to get through that alive?" Miho asked, wincing internally as it was very similar to one of the last things that Koume had said before she had died.

" _Well, first I got report to a field command post then we can start to think about getting you back aboard the school ships. The biggest problem will be finding a route that isn't blocked by rubble, destroyed cars, is mined, etc. Thus, that's why we are all going to go to the command post and hash out a route._ " Ami said with a sense of undertone of dread.

Then it seemed that the Chinese decided to really kick-off the big show. For suddenly it seemed like the ground started shaking as seemingly hundreds of guns and rockets were fired _en masse_ seemingly blocking out the moon and stars. Ordnance slammed hard into the joint American/Japanese lines. Enormous plumes of earth were hurled skyward while thick clouds of white smoke began to envelope the Niigata Line along a thirty-five kilometer long front.

" _Oh shit, looks like the Chinese are starting round two. Well that is going to make our life difficult._ Particularly _if the Chinese achieve a breakthrough; they came really damn close to doing so during earlier but we managed to repel it… barely. If the Chinese are going to do anything like Soviet Tank Doctrine, the moment they achieve a breakthrough they will likely rush an Operational Maneuver Group, or OMG for short, right into the hole and if that happens just about everything will go to shit and it will go to shit_ really fucking fast _._ " Ami said grimly.

" _What's so bad about an OMG?_ " Maho asked somewhat confused.

" _An OMG is bad news; expect something like that to have two full tank divisions and three motor-rifle divisions and that is likely an at_ best _scenario. At worst, we could be looking at something like four full tank divisions and six motor-rifle divisions, to put that in perspective a Soviet style tank division has three tank regiments with each regiment composed of three battalions each having thirty-one MBTs at its disposal, plus a self-propelled artillery battery composed of eighteen SPGs, a motor-rifle regiment which is composed of three five-hundred strong battalions in BMPs or similar vehicles plus another goddamned tank battalion with thirty-one MBTs, an anti-aircraft battery composed of four short-ranged mobile SAM vehicles and four Shilka or Tunguska style SPAAGs, a reconnaisse company, an engineer company,_ plus _all the non combat assets. Then, it gets even worse for the motor-rifle divisions are composed of three motor-rifle regiments each with three motor-rifle five hundred strong battalions, plus a tank battalion composed of thirty-one MBTs, with support units being the same as they are for the tank divisions, with the sole exception being that they have an anti-tank missile battery composed of nine ATGM armed vehicles. Something like_ that _breaks through the Niigata Line well then the Niigata Line is fucked about six ways to Sunday_ at the bare minimum _._ " Ami said bitterly shaking her head.

"So what do we do if we aren't onboard the school ships and the Chinese achieve a breakthrough and blitz in an OMG?" Miho asked curiously but with an undertone of dread since an OMG it would seem had the capability to just simply _drown_ you in tanks, IFVs, artillery, and infantry. It seemed that if the tanks didn't get you, the IFVs might, if the IFVs didn't get you then the artillery might, if the artillery didn't get you then the infantry would probably finish the job.

" _Quite simple really, if you are close to the school ships, drop whatever you're doing and run like hell to them. If you aren't, well in that case, try and get to the school ships, but if you can't get as creative as you can and try to escape the Niigata Prefecture in its entirety. I don't care if you have to get out of your tank and_ run _, you either get on those school ships or get out of town. That's a goddamned order._ " Ami replied sharply.

"But, what about you, Sensei? What will happen to you if the Chinese breakthrough and send in an OMG." Miho asked fearfully.

Chōno sighed deeply over the comms. " _Miho, if the Chinese breakthrough and they send in an OMG to exploit the breakthrough; I am either going to wind up dead or wounded in someway and likely becoming a prisoner of war. Although to be frank, something tells me that death would likely be preferable to becoming a 'guest' of the Chicoms."_ She said solemnly, shaking her head.

"O-okay." Miho stuttered. _Once more unto the breach my friends, once more._ She thought before giving the orders that unknown to her would cement her and a number of names into history. "Panzer vor!"

With a rumble of engines they advanced toward the city of Niigata as a hellish duel began in earnest, artillery was picking up its tempo, the crash of tank cannons picked up noticeably as well, the rapid-fire thuds of autocannons became almost continuous thudding bass, while the cracks and pops of small-arms became almost continuous as the orchestra of war went from the seemingly mild start-up for a piece like Ride of Valkyries and now was in the main exciting piece of it.

* * *

Sergeant Bruce Wilson was having a bad day. Well scratch that, a bad week. The Niigata Line had barely held against a force of six ChiCom Combined Arms Brigades, which had come as a very nasty surprise. They had nearly achieved a breakthrough and worse, according to the Cavalry scouts the Chinese had moved in an OMG and were just waiting for what was likely going to happen during this assault, a breakthrough. That happened well then life would get incredibly interesting, incredibly fast.

Still even as he peered through the scope of his M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, a bolt-action weapon, chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum, with a five-round detachable box magazine. He had a feeling that they would likely struggle against this one, despite the fact that they had been skirmishing for the majority of the afternoon, that had been on the other side of the Shinano River mainly because the first Chinese attempt to breakthrough had happened there. But, why were they suddenly attacking on this side of the river?

His eyes widened as he realized why that was. _Oh you cheeky little Chinese bastards._ He thought as he figured out why the Chinese were suddenly attacking this area. Due to the casualties that they had suffered repelling that assault, they had been forced to pull some units out from the southern side of the line and send them to the hammered northern end and now it was biting them in the ass.

Still, judging by the way cannon fire from the few JGSDF Type 10s and Type 90s that they had left, as well as M125 Tempest Light Tanks, Maneuver Combat Vehicles, and even a few Stryker Mobile Gun Systems were blazing away for all their worth, they were on the move again. 105mm and 120mm guns were hurling AP spikes and HEAT rounds down range. But he couldn't _see_ , he didn't have a thermal scope, not that .300 Win Mag would be able to put a noticeable dent in a tank but it would easily ruin the day of any unarmored jeep, but he doubted he would see one.

Yet with all the smoke he _couldn't_ _see_ at all! He found himself wishing that he had a thermal sight so he could actually see but he also doubted that their would be any infantry or commanders in the open while you attacking a heavily defended line. It was one of those things.

That was when the radio crackled and a bolt of panic flashed through him. " _SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! The enemy is breaking through, the line is starting to crumble, there's at least an entire division of tanks supported by maybe two motor-rifle regiments!"_ A JGSDF soldier bellowed over the radio, the sounds of combat nearly blocking out the words of the young man. But judging how a wild panic was seemingly beginning to form in the first-defensive lines it was starting to go to utter shit.

" _Pull back! Pull back! They are almost on top of us!"_ A JGSDF tanker bellowed over the radio.

" _Multiple enemy tanks are advancing, mainly ZTZ-96Cs but we also got ZTZ-99Bs advancing with multiple WZ-551s and Type 91 AIFVs right behind them! They've got us pinned with autocannon fire!"_ A US Army Trooper said frantically.

The sounds of heavy combat were getting closer and closer now. A panic was beginning to build among the allied troops as the ChiComs began to hammer them hard. This was bad and then it got worse, for as the smoke cleared nearly a dozen Z-10s appeared and began to tear into the American/Japanese lines with autocannon, rocket, and missile fire. The line was beginning to crumble along at least a ten kilometer long section of front, with the men who could were beginning to break and run in a blind panic in the face of overwhelming firepower.

Still seeing his chance, Bruce brought the butt of his rifle up to his shoulder and peered through the scope, he likely wouldn't be able to penetrate the bulletproof glass with the rounds he was packing; and besides, the Z-10 also had pilot controls for the gunner in back as well, so it was sort of moot anyway. Then he got an idea, one that at best could be described as crazy. He brought the crosshairs onto the rotor shaft for the main rotor-blade. He was hoping he could succeed in hitting the main rotor. Because he hit that and managed to damage the thing or even throw it off-balance enough, there would be Chinese Helis raining from the sky. Case in point, on the old Hueys, there was a part called the Jesus Nut. An important part of the checklist, because if it came loose, well the entire main rotor blade assembly would detach itself from the helicopter and the crew would promptly meet Jesus, hence the name of the Jesus Nut.

The rifle bucked and emitted an ear-piercing _crack_ , a 15 gram projectile was hurled out of barrel of the weapon. The range was right around a mile out, just inside the effective range of the Mk 248 MOD 2 round Full-Metal Jacket, steel-core round. It helped that the fools were flying level, instead of changing altitude to spoil potential ground fire solutions. With all the tactical advancements and technology built in to keep the helo from being an easy target, you just can't beat the Mark One Eyeball for target acquisition. The round screamed in to its intended target, and something probably important sheared off and went spinning away from the RPMs. It didn't take long for the rotor to start vibrating, and the entire craft started shaking along with it. There was probably panic on their frequency as the pilot and gunner tried frantically to sort out the issue, and that's when Bruce made his second shot, this time at the tail rotor of the second helo, before pumping two rounds into the engine compartment on the main fuselage. It probably worked, judging by the new smoke trail.

Now devoid of its stability in it's main rotor blade, the first Chinese Z-10 spun shook violently, completely out of control, until the blades flung themselves away. The bird then proceeded to drop out of the sky and crashed into the ground hard, rolling twice, and sliding for a few meters before coming to a violent stop. Leaking fuel and oil from a dozen wounds ripped into the helo's airframe when it crashed. With that pesky windscreen out of the way, the two pilots were easy pickings as they tried frantically to extricate themselves from the downed gunship.

He worked the bolt smoothly, slowly lifting the bolt, then pulling it back thus ejecting the spent casing, and then sliding the bolt forward and closing it so the weapon wouldn't jerk. He then calmly brought his crosshairs down onto the other Z-10, now smoking like a schoolboy in the washroom, and obviously fishtailing from the engine damage. _Well, damn. The tail rotor must be undamaged. Guess I missed._ He fired again, this time at the camera mounted on the nose. _Might as well keep their eyes off me. Really glad I sprang for the deep mags._ Someone on the ground started opening up. At this point, whoever was in command must have had enough, and ordered the flight to turn around. That poor bastard who was second in line wouldn't see his field, though. That's when, in a spectacular shower of sparks, something broke in the engine, and the Z-10 fell out of the sky, this time, right over the, though contested, US/Japanese lines. That's when the shelling started.

Some idiot decided to call in a Final Protective Fire and all hell had broken loose. For a disturbingly long amount of time, everything that was bigger than a rifle that could be brought to bear opened fire on that sector, what seemed right along the area where the breakthrough was bound to happen which meant that they had 155mm, 127mm, 81mm, 120mm, and even 61mm artillery and mortar shells rain a salvo of death upon their enemies. Even eight Tomahawk Cruise Missiles from an American _Ticonderoga_ class Guided Missile Cruiser -that was in port running defense for the two school ships- dropped out of the sky alongside with the Kitchen Sink.

For several long moments, all that Bruce could see was a large amount of dust, fire, and smoke. The barrage lasted for ten whole minutes and the enemy incoming slackened off and then stopped. As it all began to clear, the state of devastation that was revealed was incredible. Chinese vehicles lay either on their sides or in some unfortunate cases somehow on their roofs. Tanks lay broken and shattered, flames and smoke pouring from gaping wounds, tracks thrown, gun barrels destroyed and the IFVs were in even worse shape some had outright exploded, spreading the remains of their occupants over a wide area in an extremely bloody mess.

 _Well that could have gone better._ Bruce thought grimly as he looked at the mess that the Chinese had made along the front. From what he could see, an entire company of Type 10s as well as two companies of Type 90s had been _decimated_ a large number of Maneuver Combat Vehicles were burning as well just to make matters worse there was only a few Tempest Light Tanks remaining and no Mobile Gun Systems were left either. Bradley and Type 89 IFVs lay shattered and broken, plus God only knew how bad the infantry losses were. But judging by the vehicle losses and how the fucking infantry had begun to panic, and started to break and run it was bound to be high.

 _At least it can't get any worse._ Bruce thought as he pulled an Apple-cinnamon Soldier Fuel energy bar out from his back pocket. _It's something. Never thought I would KILL for just the main course of one of the old MREs._ He had just opened the thing when the situation went from bad to worse.

" _FUCK! Movement, we got more company coming! It's along a narrower ten kilometer long front. Right along where the Chinese got real fucking close to breaking through! MY GOD, IT'S A FUCKING OPERATIONAL MANOEUVRE GROUP!"_ A JGSDF trooper yelled over the radio, sheer panic in his voice.

"How bad?!" Bruce shouted into his short-range radio as he grabbed his Vector SMG, slung his rifle over his shoulder, grabbed his helmet and began to relocate frantically. " _From the looks of it, at least two maybe three Tank Divisions, all equipped with nothing but ZTZ-99Bs and ZTZ96Cs and you don't_ want _to know how many Type 91s I am seeing."_ A USA trooper replied.

"How many IFVs?" Bruce asked, he needed a hard estimate.

" _Least three divisions worth, plus with our luck artillery and a mess of gunships are about to pay us a visit."_ the same trooper replied sourly.

 _SHIT! Not good._ Bruce thought as he really picked up the pace. As he exited the building he had been in. Eight Tempest Light Tanks and four Dragoons being led by a Japanese Type-90 MBT roared by, the Quick Reaction Force, not that they could do much. Particularly considering what was coming down like a steamroller on top of their heads. That small QRF would be lucky if they could even _slow down_ the enemy but they certainly couldn't stop it.

That's when he saw come roaring down the road, a sight that made his heart leap into his chest with joy. A Type 10 Hitomaru-shiki sensha appeared from the looks of it this particular one was one of the skirmishers that was sent out yesterday afternoon. Still, how much time could the just one MBT buy? Would it be enough for him to escape to one of the school ships? It was only one MBT and it would be facing god only knew how many Chinese MBTs in return. But then again, it _was_ a Type 10 MBT, it certainly wouldn't go down easily. The roaring rattling rumble of artillery shells shrieked overhead, obviously frantically trying to prevent what had likely already happened. A breakthrough in the outer most defensive line, which meant he had to get to the second defensive line which within downtown and mostly manned by units that had gone through the meat grinder and the police, the third and final defensive line was mostly composed of tanks from Kuromorimine and had militiamen in it as well as the walking wounded and the military non-combatants, if the Chinese got to that line then they were right fucked because it was mainly a tight circle within two kilometers from the port although having spoken with some of the commanders of those tanks, it had been an all volunteer posting for the tanks but their were some downright _menacing_ looking WWII machines sitting down there, mainly because the ones that had volunteered, their machines had been dressed for war.

Somewhere behind him a loud detonation resounded as _something_ blew up behind him. What though he didn't know, but he had to get to the second defensive line, not that he had high hopes. An OMG was bad news, there was a reason why the Soviets called it Стена стали or 'Wall of steel' mainly because so many tanks and IFVs were sent your way.

Another pair of reverberating crashes resounded. More tank cannonfire, the thundering roar of an HMG started up as well somewhere behind him. That Type 10 and the Type 90, Tempests, and Dragoons supporting it had likely engaged and were probably going to get swamped by enemy forces. But he could tell by the growling rumble of engines, the thundering crash of tank cannons, plus the constant chattering of machine guns. Their was the rumble of an engine behind him and he looked over his shoulder and blinked in shock, the Type 10 was reversing likely in a frantic attempt to escape the oncoming horde. A shell slammed into the MBT and bounced off, wind-milling into the air producing an ear-piercing shriek as it did so.

More artillery rumbled overhead and then someone managed to shout the one codeword that Bruce knew was coming. " _Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Sergeant Savage of the 81st Stryker Combat Team! Shattered Bow! Shattered Bow! Allied Forces are in danger of being completely overrun!_ "

Shattered Bow, that codeword was used by the United States Army, Marine Corps, and JSF; it basically was code for "We are _really,_ _really_ _,_ _ **really**_ in the shit and need an ass-ton of help _now_ ". As such when an Army, Marine Corps, or JSF unit issued a "Shattered Bow" alert, everything that could do so in terms of artillery, gunships, and planes were going to cancel their current mission and give the enemy some iron. Oh and to top it all off, a Shattered Bow-type Fire Mission, well it meant that it was going to be "extreme danger close" and thus the world was probably about to get _very noisy_ and it was probably going to happen _very fast_.

In other words, he probably wanted to haul ass back to the second line and wanted to do so pretty soon. Already naval gunfire support as well as the howitzers and mortars that they had on hand were beginning to unleash hell. Explosions were beginning to blanket the area, and it only promised to grow, both in volume and cacophony.

As if on cue, a flight of F-2 Viper Zeroes screamed overhead and unleashed their ordinance, the craft then braving SAM and AA fire did a strafing run. It was that second pass that resulted in two Vipers simply being blotted from the sky by SAMs and a third having a stream of shells rip it's right wing clean off sending the plane tumbling to the ground. But what would just four jets be able to do against an OMG? Unless they were A-10Ds, probably exactly jackshit. The same was true for Gunships unless they were Apache Longbows, Cobras, or Blackfoots they'd stand absolutely no chance at even slowing down that force of tanks that was rolling right over them.

Still, as he sprinted his way toward the 2nd defense line, more explosions and cannonfire resounded through the air. Despite that the sounds of combat we're constantly and inexorably getting closer and closer. He wondered how things were going at Bunsui, scuttlebutt had it that the situation was bad.

* * *

 _0200 Hours, December 22nd, 2025_

 _Bunsui, Niigata Prefecture_

 _Following Kuromorimine's Tank Six_

While all hell was breaking loose in the city of Niigata, it already had broken loose at Bunsui. Unknown to the members of the combined Kuromorimine/Ōarai tank column, Kuromorimine's Tank Six was in an interesting position. They'd succeeded in closing to within a kilometer of the bridge that led into Bunsui. The tank in question was a Panzerkampfwagen V ausf. G Panther Medium Tank.

The interior of said Panzerkampfwagen V ausf. G Panther was dimly lit, it stank of blood, sweat, hydraulic fluid, engine oil, burnt smokeless powder, cordite, and strangely enough hot leather. At the start of these two days from hell, the Panther had been painted in an absolutely pristine German Tan, but now that paint job was marred by dings, dents, dimples, scratches, pockmarks, splattered mud, scorch marks, gun fouling, and a thin layer of dust. Oh, and a hole in the upper glacis on the right side of the tank.

The commander of the battered tank, Shinkai Sama, was amazed that they had weaved their way through the chaos to where they were now. Currently up against the side of a surprisingly intact two-story house, and eyeing their only path to relative safety, the Japanese National Route 116 Shinano River Bridge. Their was just one _slight_ problem.

A 155mm High-Explosive Fragmentation round slammed into the two-story house that they were hiding behind. The structure which had sustained minor damage from an Airstrike to destroy something, probably a platoon of tanks or something that had probably been nearby was simply blown apart with tremendous force. With a ringing series of crashes, pieces of debris drummed against the hull and turret of the Panther. Shaking the machine violently and causing a noticeable amount of profanity to escape the lips of the five girl crew. The commander of the machine peered through the viewports at the chaos, tracers were flying in every direction, the earth was being churned up by explosions, tanks, AIFVs, IFVs, and HIFVs were all doing fire and maneuver against unseen targets. Every now and again, a enemy vehicle would explode or take a burst of fire, lurch to a halt, and then brew up into an inferno.

Sighing she turned her vision away from the bridge and battlefield that was outside and down into the fighting compartment of the Panther. "How's everyone doing?" she asked.

"Could be better commander, the engine is happy and so am I." The driver of the powerful medium tank, Oba Kaida said, rubbing her ears trying to regain hearing.

"Affirmative Kaida, let me know if anything changes with the engine." Shinkai said with a brief nod.

"Wish I was doing better, I think the fucking morphine is starting to wear-off and I am still bleeding like a shot pig here." The radio operator/bow machine gunner, Tezuka Nayoko said in a weak and pained voice. She'd been hit by spalling when a Chinese ZTQ-105 Amphibious Light Tank with it's powerful main gun had hit them with a spike, the round had cored through the the rolled homogenous armor, the spall liner, and the spall liner backplate like it was made of paper, the shot had then blitzed through the fighting compartment, tore it's way through the engine firewall, had somehow not hit anything in the engine compartment and then buried itself in the back part of the tank. Tezuka had been lucky that the spike hadn't hadn't ripped her right arm off or torn her in two for that matter, but she had caught a fair amount of spalling, her Interceptor Body Armor which she wore under her tankery uniform had provided some protection, but some fragments had either hit areas that weren't armored or had found seams in her armor and thus had severely wounded her.

Sadly, the Interceptor armor which was bought surplus wasn't mandatory mainly because if a regulation shell succeeded in penetrating and then having the small explosive charge within detonate. Well, protection from shrapnel was going to be the least of one's concerns, because if the shrapnel didn't do you in the shock wave from the explosion of the shell bouncing around the inside of a buttoned up tank likely would, and of course if you were really unlucky the ammunition could cook-off or the fuel could ignite. The point was, if their was an accident during a match or even during practice, the results would generally be life threatening or fatal for the crew, to the point that protection that was offered by ballistic vests just wasn't really worth it.

"I am sorry Tezuka, think you can live for a few minutes?" Shinkai asked hopefully.

"Yes, I believe I can. But if we suffer another penetrating hit like that first one and I catch more spalling, I am most certainly a goner." Tezuka replied her voice weak and morbid.

"Tezuka, to tell you the truth, I thought we were all goners when I saw that gun flash. Mainly because I feared that it was firing Tungsten Carbide or Depleted Uranium spike rounds either that or HEAT munitions which our armor can't stop. At best we would have a jet of liquid metal pierce our hull, and either cause the ammunition racks to either catch fire or the fuel to catch fire and force us to bail out, we'd be a little toasty but likely all of us would be still alive, whereas if it had been a DU or Tungsten Spike, the air would've been set on fire and we would've been incinerated, likely killed before we even knew what was going on." Shinkai explained.

"But for some reason, despite the fact we were hit with a spike round there is something rather important here, we're still alive." The gunner of the tank, Naru Ichie growled in response.

"Does seem strange, but I am not complaining at all. Wait a minute, could it be that they are using tungsten carbide or something in their spikes for regular army while the Summer Dragon Special Mission Force gets Depleted Uranium spikes?" Oba asked sounding slightly confused.

"Could be, still we got to be ready to make our move over that bridge. Load Sabot!" Shinkai barked sharply.

"Boss, we've gone through a lot of ammunition. No High-Explosive, no smoke, five HEAT rounds, six Sabots, and all of our canister rounds are left. We started with eighty-two rounds of ammunition and the coaxial is down to just three hundred rounds and Tezuka is in no condition to fire her MG. Plus you can't stick your head out and fire the commander's MG, that's just begging for a sniper to take your head off." The loader of the tank, Suou Kiyoko said shaking her head as she grabbed an APFSDS round from its rack and slammed it into the breach with a satisfying _clank_. "Ready up!" she said.

"Yeah I knew our ammo situation was bad. But listen idiot, until we get across the bridge and to safety, I don't care if we have to use this fucking thing as a goddamned battering ram." Shinkai snarled angrily.

"Jesus christ boss, why the hell are you like this all of sudden?" Tezuka asked wheezily from her position.

"Oh I don't know, maybe after Geshiko and her crew were fucking annihilated and the same goes for Koume and her crew! We are up against fucking heartless bastards who wouldn't hesitate to kill us in cold! Fucking! Blood!" Shinkai snapped.

"Oh fuck off, we've fought through worse." Oba said cheerfully.

"What's worse than being in this fucking situation? I shudder at the thought." Suou said, shuddering.

"Simple, fighting Pravda while it's winter and you have constant snow squalls blowing around and you hit ice and go sliding into a snowdrift during an early skirmish and nearly freezing to death." Oba said with a smile.

Shinkai paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Yeah, you got a point there. Freezing to death is one of the worst ways to go in my book, right behind starvation and burning to death." she said with shudder, Koume's dying screams before Miho Nishizumi mercifully ended it were going to haunt her for the rest of her life.

"Can we get off of these fucking morbid thoughts and focus more on how to get over the Route 116 Bridge and into Bunsui?" Naru growled angrily.

"Agreed, any ideas?" Shinkai asked as the Panther shook as another 155mm shell slammed into the ground nearby and exploded, showering the machine in dirt and dust, plus from sounds of it several pieces of shrapnel peppered the tank.

"I think I got one." Oba said as she peered through her viewports, eyeing a Chinese ZTZ-96 as it tried and failed to make a run on the bridge, being utterly annihilated by something.

"Let's hear it." Shinkai replied.

"I remember when I read a book called 'Red Storm Rising', which is basically how a hypothetical conventional World War III during the height of the Cold War breaks out. Well, during one of the battles, a British Chieftain MBT wound up in a similar situation that we wound up in, well when two T-80 Standard Tanks made a run across a bridge, the Chieftain followed them and then drove up right between the two Soviet MBTs and got across the bridge. Now if we can do that ourselves we will be in pretty good shape." Oba said, her hand moving toward the little red button to disengage the limiter for the replica engine that powered the Panther.

That was the thing with Sensha-dō, with a few exceptions the machines that took part in the sport were purpose built for it, their engines were more powerful so they could achieve the same top speed that they had achieved without the added weight of the safety shell which was composed of several layers: the first layer was the actual armor of the vehicle usually RHA although some of the newer ones used Nano-crystal steel, the second layer was a ceramic spall liner, and the third layer was a special kind of Polyurethane, as a result these engines were often way more powerful than they were in the actual production tanks.

In order to help combat this, these engines had limiters installed so they could only achieve their maximum speed that they did when they were actually used. However the tanks also came with a switch or a red button in the driver's dashboard that when flipped or pushed it disengaged the limiter, however it was rarely done during matches and could only be done with the express permission of the tank commander, mainly because hitting a wall or something like that could result in major injuries. Other safety features in all Sensha-dō tanks include diesel engines, wet ammunition stowage, and automatic fire suppression systems in the engine compartment.

"That is absolutely fucking crazy, plus it's bound to get us all killed!" Naru snarled. "I would rather surrender than die." she finished.

"Bullshit! I would rather die than become a guest of Chinese!" Suou snapped as she tried to reach across the gun breach in order to smack Naru, but Shinkai grabbed her arm. "Enough! I am the commander here and I make the final call! Not you two assholes who don't seem to have a pair of brain cells to rub together!" she growled.

Despite that, Suou and Naru bickered at each other angrily over what would be preferable either dying in an attempt to get to safety or surrendering to the Chinese. Finally it became too much. "Enough! Both of you, personally I want the chance to see my family again or die trying. If we surrender to the Chinese, there's no guarantee that we'll be executed in a POW camp. So, we're going to try and cross that _fucking_ _bridge_!" Shinkai shouted giving a firm kick in the shoulder to both Naru and Suou.

"Boss, if we die and you somehow survive, your ass is going to be haunted. Mark my words!" Naru growled as she peered through the gunner's sight and made several adjustments to it.

"Oh bullshit, we'll get out of here. I am certain." Tezuka said weakly, given she was semi-slumped in her seat. Suddenly she snapped bolt upright, clutching her headset. "Come again?" she asked suddenly. After several moments she turned, painfully, in her seat but she had an exuberant look on her face. "Kommandant, I have good news for us!" she said gleefully.

"What?" Shinkai asked in a surprised voice.

"An American Scryer UCAV has spotted us! The American Joint Strike Force's 21st Armored Combat Team knows we're here. We make our move, we can expect to see some covering fire provided for us." Tezuka exclaimed joyfully.

"Good" Shinkai said before peering through her vision ports. Two PTZ-110s were barreling toward the bridge at full speed. This was likely going to be their only chance. _Ah the game is afoot._ She thought before putting her crazy "plan" into action. "Oba, disengage the limiter." She ordered calmly.

 ***BGM: Panzer Vor***

"With pleasure!" Oba replied and pressed little red button. Instantly the engine noise increased noticeably.

Shinkai counted down in her head as the PTZ-110s got closer. They were basically right on top of an intersection that would allow easy access on Japanese National Route 116. The vehicles began to pull abreast of the Panther. "Fahrer, Kurbel es! Radio-Operator, alarmieren die Amerikaner, dass wir kommen!" Shinkai ordered, slipping into German as she gave the order, whenever she did that her crew knew that it was time to put their game faces on.

"Jawohl!" Oba and Tezuka replied and Oba shifted the tank into first gear and depressed the accelerator. The interior of the tank began to rattle and rumble as the Panther began to advance slowly. Meanwhile, Tezuka sent a radio message to the American forces in English, giving them advanced warning that they were coming.

Shinkai peered through her viewports, a squad of Chinese riflemen, from the looks of it PLAGF and not SDSF stopped their running advance toward the frontline to gawk at the Panther as it advanced slowly toward Japanese National Route 116.

The PTZ-110s were nearly past the Panther now. "Fahrer, nach diesen beiden PTZ-110s, Höchstgeschwindigkeit!" Shinkai growled into her throat mic and then grinned savagely as the Chinese Riflemen scattered as they realized that yes, the Panther Tank was moving and it was moving toward _them_.

"Jetzt geht das schon wieder los!" Oba said and put her foot to the floor. The incredibly powerful engine unleashed a hurricane roar and the Panther shot forward and after a dogleg turn was on Japanese National Route 116. Shinkai listened to the engine and how it's RPMs were changing. Second gear … third gear … fourth gear … fifth gear, new sounds began drumming against the side and rear of the Panther, which rang through the fighting compartment: rifle, machine gun, and from the sounds of it autocannon fire.

Well, it was time to get creative then. "Fahrer, Zickzack! Unser Ziel ist die Japanische Nationalstraße 116 Brücke!" Shinkai growled and almost immediately the Panther started swerving violently from left to right. Something screamed right past the tank, Shinkai didn't have a clue what it was until she spotted a ZTZ-99 trying to cut them off, it's main gun pointing menacingly at them. But in the process it showed it's broadside to the river, something, probably a spike round, slammed right into the MBT's side and detonated his ammunition rack and hurled the turret clean-off.

 _Someone is watching over us._ Shinkai thought as she gazed at the wreckage of the ZTZ-99. The Panther was now bounding up the road, and was nearly to the bridge. There was a bright flash to her left, Shinkai looked and caught a glimpse of something streaking toward the tank before it shattered against the hull of the tank with a ear-splitting _bang_. Whatever that thing had been, it had either been a dud or hadn't armed in time. _Thank God for duds and minimum arming distances._ Shinkai thought cheerfully.

The Panther Tank bounded up the entry slope and then onto the bridge itself. "Bring uns rechts zwischen diesen beiden PTZ-110s!" Shinkai ordered firmly.

"Verstanden!" Oba shouted over the roar of the engine, before straightening them out and then flooring it. The powerful Medium Tank rocketed right between the PTZ-110s as they closed. Then what appeared to be a Abrams Main Battle Tank with a slightly lengthened hull and a completely different turret design appeared. They bounded past the large American MBT and then Oba locked the brakes and swung them one hundred eighty degrees, while simultaneously downshifting smoothly to first gear from seventh gear and then into reverse and calmly backing up slowly.

The American MBT let rip with it's Electro-thermal ignited 120mm/L55 main gun and one of the PTZ-110s simply exploded and then the remaining PTZ-110 shot the American tank point blank and the vehicle erupted into fire and smoke, almost instantly becoming an funeral pyre. Then a second American MBT appeared and destroyed the other PTZ-110.

"Commander, we've been asked to report to the landing zone." Tezuka said, slipping back into English. Her voice very weak.

"Yeah, just one problem. How are we going to get there? We don't exactly have a GPS uploaded with the location now don't we?" Suou grumbled, but her voice betrayed just how relieved she was.

"Yeah, that was epic! How are we alive after driving through that chaos?!" Naru exclaimed surprised that they were still alive.

"I got a question, what was the clang? I didn't see what caused that noise." Oba said.

"My guess, it was an ATGM or a LAW rocket and it probably either failed to fuse, was a dud, or hit us when it was within its minimum arming distance. Thus it didn't detonate and seriously screw us over." Shinkai stated.

"Guess luck is on our side." Oba remarked as she let out a sigh of relief. She was about to move the tank backworks when suddenly their was a loud _wham_ and the Panther shook violently and the distinct sound of metal clattering on pavement reverberated through the hull; that sound meant exactly _one thing_. "Shit! We've thrown a track!" Oba shouted in alarm.

"Tezuka! Alert the Americans! Tell them we've lost a track and we're stuck!" Shinkai shouted in alarm.

"Ja." Tezuka said before doing exactly that. Then another American vehicle appeared, it looked like an American M1150 Assault Breaching Vehicle, but was clearly based on the American MBTs that had greeted them, which Shinkai realized with a shock that these must be M5A2 Schwarzkopf MBTs, which meant these were JSF tanks, but what was the ABV doing?

Then it clicked, that vehicle was equipped with M78 MICLIC, or Mine Clearing Line Charges, the rocket that propelled the charge that could clear a lane through a minefield that was 250 meters long by 8 meters wide, using five pounds of C4 per linear foot. While it may not destroy the entire bridge, not much if anything could come out of a detonation from that much C4 explosive unscathed. It would most certainly make crossing the bridge hazardous for anything.

The Chinese knew it too, for it seemed that the volume of fire that was directed their way increased. Spikes and HEAT munitions began either shattering, bouncing, or failing to penetrate and the HEAT munitions were either splashing uselessly across its thick hide or failing to fuse.

" _Anvil 1-1 here -crash crash- seems li-crash-ke we are -crash- really popular._ " The Commander of the AVB said jokingly as spikes and HEAT rounds crashed against the vehicle.

" _No shit Anvil 1-1! How about you get your job done and then we bug the hell out! We got a mission redirect order, we're going to be relieved by the 28th Infantry Combat Team. They'll hold the line until Bunsui is fully evacuated._ " Someone growled over the radio.

" _Affirmative Colonel Francis, we're on it!_ " Anvil 1-1 replied.

A hatch slowly opened on top of Anvil 1-1. " _Firing!_ "

With the scream of a rocket, a MK38 mod 1 5-inch rocket spiraled into the air. Trailing behind the rocket as it flew upwards came a thin grey cable which was shortly followed by a thick white cable. The rocket streaked out and then after it's motor completed its burn, the MICLIC was deposited firmly against a good sized portion of the bridge.

" _Detonating MICLIC in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1, detonating!_ " The Commander of Anvil 1-1 growled and a moment later it happened.

With a detonation that resounded like a immense thunderclap split the air. A huge cloud of smoke went up amid an impressive pulse of flame. But the sound that followed afterward was in Shinkai's opinion the best sound she'd ever heard that day. The roar of the bridge collapsing as the immense amount of Composition C4 explosive that the M78 MICLIC had simply blew it's roadbed and several bridge piers apart, pieces of concrete and steel landed in the river with thundering splashes. The sound of both the explosion and the bridge collapsing was sort of sound that you felt in your chest, made your ears ring, and generally caused jaws to drop.

But amid the din of battle this one explosion went unnoticed. Still, from what she'd been able to wager, the original plan had been to blow the National Route 116 Bridge and block as well as booby trap a service bridge to the east. But the explosives for the 116 bridge over the Shinano River had failed to detonate for some reason, which had led to the protracted Battle of Bunsui erupting. Now however the National Route 116 Bridge over the Shinano River had been effectively destroyed and what remained standing was most certainly structurally unsound.

"Alright! Finally something good has happened!" Shinkai cheered excitedly at the carnage of the bridge.

"Oh _hell yeah!_ " Naru exclaimed.

"Take that you fucking bastards! Yeah, how does it feel to be on the receiving end of a defeat?! HURRAH!" Souo whooped gleefully.

"BOOYA BITCHES!" Oba yelled.

"Right, let's get the fuck out of here now." Shinkai ordered tersely.

"We can't, remember boss. We lost our track." Oba said.

"Fuck, well fix it and get a medic over here as well." Shinkai ordered sharply before slumping slightly in her seat. A combination of lack of sleep and shock was starting to catch up to her. But she wasn't going to rest until her tank and crew were safe.

She could attest to that, so with a sigh she opened the hatch and pulled herself out. She then inhaled deeply, god that felt good. While the air still smelled of cordite, burnt smokeless powder, and recently detonated explosives, it was bearable out of the tank because it wasn't all concentrated with other smells inside a tank. Of course the sounds also changed, artillery was louder, the thuds of autocannons were more noticeable, she could hear the pops and cracks of small arms fire, the bellow of machine gun fire, the _thump thump_ of helicopters and tilt-rotors, the engine to her tank sounded different, coming from the American MBT and ABV was a subtle whine from their powerful multi-fuel turbine engines, there was also shouts, yells, and screams. It made it seem like the battle was an orchestra.

"You sure that's a good idea Miss?" Someone shouted to her. Shinkai looked around and spotted a group of four American JSF Riflemen that were near her tank, they obviously had been in the process of falling back, most likely to secondary defensive positions but now they were moving back up to the primary defensive line.

"Probably not! But I need some goddamned air and I really could use a bite to eat. You have no idea how unpleasant it can get inside a tank when you spend the better part of the night fighting for your life. Also we need a medic over here! My Assistant Driver is hurt!" She growled, but the moment she mentioned that her assistant driver was hurt the rifleman she was talking too had his entire attitude change.

"How bad?" The lead rifleman shouted.

Shinkai blinked. "Pretty bad, we took a penetrating hit earlier and you know how tough these Sensha-dō tanks are. Anyway she caught a few pieces of shrapnel from the hit, that was several hours ago. Before you get pissed at me, we were on the wrong side of the river and the Chinese likely weren't going to be generous." She said.

"Right, Jefferson. Get over their and help them get the wounded out." The lead rifleman barked.

"Yessir!" One man said and Shinkai quickly dismounted from the Panther and went to the front of the machine and climbed up the front and knocked on the assistant driver's hatch. With a slight grunt she heard the latches unlock and then she opened the hatch. "Come on Tezuka, let's get you home." Shinkai said as she gently hefted Tezuka out of the Panther.

"Easy, easy. Hand her down slowly!" Jefferson said as Shinkai to the best of her ability handed her wounded Radio Operator/Assistant Driver/Bow Machine Gunner off to the JSF medic. "Take good care of her." Shinkai said.

"Wouldn't question it ma'am. We'll do our best." Jefferson said as he made a hand-motion and two other JSF Riflemen came over, Jefferson had already set Tezuka on a foldout stretcher and was in the process of setting up an IV.

"Ready?" Jefferson asked and the two Riflemen nodded. "3 … 2 … 1 … lift!" and together the medic and two riflemen lifted the stretcher and IV bag respectively.

"Jefferson!? Why the fuck have you cannibalized my fireteam?!" The Rifleman from earlier snarled venomously. "Sorry boss, but we got a critical here! She needs MEDIVAC now and I don't want to risk a Goshawk trying to pick her up. We got to take her back roughly three blocks before I am comfortable with a V-25M Goshawk picking her up." Jefferson snapped back in reply.

"Right, let's go. I got your six." The lead rifleman said and then the fireteam moved out, moving at a brisk jog.

"Boss? Think you could help with fixing this fucking heavy track?" Oba asked while Shinkai looked after them. "Wha? Oh sure!" She said before stooping and helping the driver put the track back together.

* * *

 **AN:** **FUCK WRITER'S BLOCK!** **Yeah, the fucker that's known as Writer's block really kicked our asses on this one! But hey this story ain't dead! Let me tell you though, it was a real pain sorting out not only the writer's block but also how to continue this chapter so it ended on a bit of a good note. But there's more to this chapter than it seems, for one going off of Ami Chōno's rank she'd likely be in command of a company of JGSDF MBTs as seen here.**

 **Another thing is that the OMG was a real thing, particularly during the Cold War, now since myself and Baron don't really know much about Chinese Tank Doctrine, we're assuming it's similar to Soviet Russia's Tank Doctrine of just drowning your foes in tanks. Anything to add Baron?**

 _ **It's taken a while, especially since I had to keep going out of state, which means a full day's drive, and more than likely no internet connection of any kind once I got there, or not having time to do much online. But we did it. Finally finished the chapter, with it sitting in the Google Docs history a lot longer than I would like to admit. Other than that, not much to say, except keep your powder dry, and the magazine wet.**_

 **Translations:**

 **Verstanden: Roger That!**

 **Bring uns rechts zwischen diesen beiden PTZ-110s!: Bring us right between these two PTZ-110s!**

 **Fahrer, Kurbel es! Radio-Operator, alarmieren die Amerikaner, dass wir kommen!: Driver, crank it! Radio operator, alert the Americans that we are coming!**

 **Jawohl!: Yessir/Yes**

 **Fahrer, nach diesen beiden PTZ-110s, Höchstgeschwindigkeit!: Drivers, after these two PTZ-110s, top speed!**

 **Fahrer, Zickzack! Unser Ziel ist die Japanische Nationalstraße 116 Brücke!: Driver, zigzag! Our goal is the Japanese National Road 116 bridge!**


	7. Out of the Frying Pan

**AN: Alright, we defeated Writer's block and in the process finished "The Road to Niigata" arc and now it's time to throw our heroes from mostly running away and taking part in mostly small-time affairs to being caught in the middle of one of the biggest battles so far.**

 **Also our thoughts and prayers are with those in the City of Las Vegas after the horrific mass-shooting that occurred their.**

 **So anything to add Baron?**

 _ **To use an old quote, now we're all in the shit. Welcome to the suck. Niigata, the 'safe' zone, is about as safe as St Lo or Sevastopol.**_

* * *

 **0210 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Anglerfish Team**

The noise that the artillery shells were producing were seemingly ripping the sky asunder with the tremendous shrieks and the ground itself was heaving and shaking violently in response as said shells slammed in the earth and tore it apart with explosions. In addition to that, small arms fire popped, cracked, and rattled as soldiers clashed, tank cannons thundered, while, with rapid-fire thuds, autocannons unleashed hell.

However, given that the sounds of combat were steadily increasing as the panzers rumbled toward the school ships. It was clear that the enemy was breaking through.

 _We got to hurry, I doubt that the JGSDF and USA can hold the line for much longer. Friendly planes seem to be coming in like crazy now._ Miho thought as a flight of FB-22s roared overhead and added their own ordinance to chaos. _Somewhere out there, in all of that, my sister's comrades are fighting. She's been looking through her binoculars much more since we arrived in the city_. _I hope they, she, and us will all make it out of this okay._ Miho thought as she lead the panzers toward the defensive line.

Suddenly someone shouted over the radio the phrase they all feared. " _INCOMING!_ " Miho's head snapped up and spotted something that made her heart sink. A flight of Chinese aircraft was approaching, braving fearsome SAM fire from the American AEGIS ship in the harbor.

Miho hit the radio and shouted exactly one order. "SCATTER!"

She then dove into her commander's cupola and closed the hatch. Mako gunned the engine and Hana turned the turret so it was facing backwards. A moment later the Panzer IV Ausf. H went barreling through a building at high speed.

Seconds that felt like minutes later, a sizeable section of the street exploded with tremendous force. The air sang with the distinctive noise of shrapnel flying through the air, the crackling crash debris came crashing down.

"All Panzers report in!" Miho barked and then scowled at the responses she got. Everyone was still alive but they had been pretty effectively scattered by that air strike.

 _Great, this is just dandy!_ Miho thought as she gave out more orders and pulled her torso out of the cupola. "All Panzers, split-up and find your own way to the school ships. We got too much of a target painted on us if we move in a group, if you can try and move in a way that would make it easy to provide cover to your fellows. Execute." Miho barked sharply.

She then took a deep breath. "Maho, how is everything going on your end?"

" _Not great! My radio operator is monitoring the military channels and well the 1st Defensive line has nearly completely crumbled and the retreat toward the secondary defensive positions is just a complete and utter clusterfuck. Friendly fire, frantic pleading for extraction, begging for reinforcements, hurried goodbyes as squads and fireteams get overrun and wiped out, you name it, my radio operator has heard it over the radio. The situation is deteriorating rapidly, I'll see you aboard one of the school ships."_ Maho replied.

"Roger, we're in motion." Miho replied as the Panzer IV lurched into motion.

" _Affirmative and Miho?_ " Maho replied, her voice being nearly drowned out by what Miho _hoped_ was an artillery shell landing near her Tiger.

"Yes Maho?" Miho asked worry seeping into her voice.

" _Please be careful and stay safe. Promise me that._ " Maho said in a tone that meant she was dead serious with no room for argument.

"I will be, can you promise the same for me?" Miho asked in a meek tone.

" _I promise, barring something completely unexpected happening, I will be on one of those school ships and by the time the day is out we'll be together. I promise that._ " Maho said her voice filled with steely determination.

"Right!" Miho said as she unbuttoned.

The Panzer IV lumbered forward, debris crunched and crackled under it's grinding treads. The engine growled happily, but that's when Miho realized that apart from the School Ships, almost no buildings were still standing. Well, they were 'standing' as far as not collapsed. But that was about as far as a description could go. She couldn't tell, but it was very much possible that the majority of the buildings had likely suffered damage, same with the hulls above the waterline. They weren't exactly hard to miss after all given their size.

But that also meant that once the enemy got to within a certain distance from those things. They would likely start to pound them for all their worth as it stood, there chances of actually reaching those two school ships and thus safety. Well it might as well been like trying to swim across the Tsushima Strait, nearly impossible or highly improbable.

The Panzer IV jerked and bucked as it ran over the broken remains of coupe and then slammed back onto the blacktop. "I am not liking this. It's too quiet." She heard Yukari mutter.

"Your right Yukari, it's a little on the quiet side. Where is the enemy?" Hana replied.

"Hopefully behind us but with enough distance between us and them that we don't have to worry about getting shot in the back." Miho said over the com for the crew.

"Right, that's true." Hana replied with a slow sigh.

The Panzer IV continued to rumble forward. A new sound caught Miho's attention and caused her to glance up, Yukari and Hana opened their hatches and began to look around for the source of the noise.

They didn't have to wait long, for suddenly four A-20 Razorbacks rocketed overhead. Their engines unleashing a howling roar as they headed toward the highly dynamic frontline.

* * *

 **0220 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Regal Squadron**

Four A-20 Razorbacks raced in, flak fire streaking up toward the American Ground Attack Raptors, which while they packed heavier armor and a bigger gun than the F-22 Raptor or it's fast bomber cousin the FB-22 carried. It was nowhere near as tough as the A-10 Warthog nor did it have the same amount of loiter time that the 'Hogs had.

But it could do one thing better than the F-22 Raptor and about as well as the A-10 Warthog: carry lots of bombs, missile, and gun then put them on target plus in terms of getting their quickly it was better than the A-10 Warthog. " _Christ Regal Actual, you seeing all of those Type-99s?_ " Regal Two said.

"Yeah, I do. Come on let's dump our ordinance, head back to the barn, rearm and refuel then do it again." Regal Actual ordered.

" _Yeah Regal Actual, hey I think I see a familiar Panzer IV, could it be the one I think it is?_ " Regal Four asked.

Regal Actual glanced at one of his displays and saw a familiar Panzer IV. He chuckled slightly, a slight smile crossing his face. "Yes Four, that Panzer IV is familiar, remember late last night?" Actual asked in a calm tone.

" _Holy shit then._ " Regal Three growled.

"Affirmative, either way. Thirty seconds till weapon release, bomb bay doors open." Regal Actual said.

" _10-4_ " the three other members of Regal Squadron said.

"Five … four … three … two … bombs away!" Regal Actual boomed as his Razorback jerked as four two thousand pound bombs fell away from his plane. CBU-120s.

He checked his displays, the main part of his ordinance load was gone. But he still had two AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles, one each in the port and starboard internal bays and although he had already fired them, four Mavericks mounted externally as well as two other Sidewinders.

"Right, climb to 750 feet and then let's bug out." Regal Actual said as he increased power and pulled up.

Suddenly his RWR began to blaring in his helmet. " _Missile launch?_ Fuck! _Missile launch! Where?!_ " Regal Four screamed in alarm as Regal Actual's RWR identified the incoming missiles: Chinese PL-12Cs. Several seconds later, his RWR identified the launchers: Two Chengdu J-20s, China's Fifth Generation Air Superiority Fighter.

J-20s, NATO Reporting Name _Firebolt_ , now that was a problem, a _big_ problem. Those things were a match for Japanese F-3 Shinden IIs and American F-22A Raptors and F/A-24 Bobcats, against A-20 Razorbacks however it was quite simply no fair. This was because the Razorback had traded a lot of it's maneuverability for armor and thus wasn't as agile as the Raptor or Bobcat was and thus if an enemy got into visual range than a Razorback could be in a lot of trouble.

"Regal Squadron, break!" Regal Actual growled, before pitching up, turning into the four incoming PL-12Cs -of which one was slated for him- hit the afterburner and roared into the missiles, dropping flares and chaff.

He craned his neck as he turned into the oncoming missile and spotted it. His HMD helpfully highlighted the missile with a red box, it was as if someone had ignited a cigarette and now the cigarette was coming at him. The missile had ignored the flares and chaff.

Cursing, he pitched up and zoom climbed, trading speed for altitude and thus maneuvering room. But as a result, it made him more visible to that PL-12C, which was an active homing radar guided missile with a range of up 100 kilometers and it had a thirty-three kilogram warhead. To make matters worse, it's performance was comparable to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM or the Russian R-77 and R-84 Medium Range Air-to-Air missiles. The reason he was suddenly more visible was because he left the safety of the ground clutter.

He looked over his shoulder and spotted the missile again, it was closer, probably within ten seconds of hitting. He rolled his Razorback into a split-s, while cutting the afterburner, hitting the flares and chaff again as he did so. He came out of the maneuver right on the deck, fast and low.

The missile launch warning was still blaring in his helmet, he glanced over his shoulder and swore. The missile had ignored the bait, but his sudden reversal had bought him time and distance between himself and the missile.

He popped the flares and chaff again and hit the afterburner again. This time, the maneuver he was going to be doing was drastic. The Herbst maneuver, if he timed it right, the missile would lose lock and streak right on by. However if he timed it wrong, well he'd have to be ejecting from his craft as it would likely be coming apart and would be engulfed in flames.

His eyes flicked over a timer that had appeared in a corner, counting down the seconds till impact and silently prayed that he had enough time to complete this maneuver. He suddenly pitched his craft into a fifteen degree climb and then forced the engines into full afterburner.

The twin Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines turned into supernovas as they unleashed their full power. The reason that the Raptors, Razorbacks, and Bobcats had limiters on their engines was simple, when these suckers unleashed their full power, the immense speed that the craft could achieve at full afterburner would actually start to _peel_ the radar absorbent material off the jet. But at this point Regal Actual could care less, he needed additional altitude and time in order to lose the missile that was steadily gaining on him.

The Razorback zoom climbed once again, seemingly rocketing past five thousand feet in an eye blink. Regal Actual glanced at the timer that was counting down, and judged that the time was now. He increased his angle of attack from fifteen degrees to forty-five degrees, cutting the afterburner and deploying his air brakes.

His air speed and thus energy plummeted, his craft stalled but thanks to the thrust vectoring that the Razorback was equipped with he kept his plane under control and then he pitched the nose up to a full blown seventy degrees, he then applied a little bit of aileron and thus the plane started to roll and change direction, at the same time he deployed more flares and chaff. Then when the nose dropped, Regal Actual once again shoved the throttles to the stops and the engines turned into supernovas once again. The Razorback was now flying in the opposite direction it had been heading originally, quickly descending and increasing speed.

He also noticed that the alarm had stopped blaring and that's when he last saw the PL-12C, the missile was going into a moon shot. It had lost lock and couldn't follow his maneuver, much to his pleasure.

He came out of his dive at around 2,000 feet and killed the afterburner making sure to drop flares as he did so. "Regal Squadron check in."

" _Regal Three is down! The missile after him detonated right between the vertical stabilizers, no chute._ " Regal Four said bluntly.

" _I am hit, engine two is dead. Regal Four, how's my stabilizers looking?_ " Regal Two asked, pain noticeable in his tone of voice.

"Where the hell are you two?" Regal Actual asked.

" _Boss I am northwest of Niigata, currently heading southwest. Christ where did those J-20s come from?_ " Regal Four said.

" _I am over the Shinano River and currently heading towards Bunsui, controls aren't that responsive. Damnit, I am going to try and nurse her home._ " Regal Two growled in a moderately pained tone.

"Right, then. God speed Regal Two, you'll need it. Regal Four, meet me over the harbor near the School Ships. Keep an eye out for those two J-20s, we don't know what they got for ordinance still. So be vigilant for PL-9s, we don't know if they still have them in terms of their armament, but I am betting that they do." Regal Actual said.

" _Boss, please, please,_ please, **please** , **please** , _tell me we aren't going to be hunting those J-20s!_ " Regal Four asked in a worried tone.

"Like or not, we have to." Regal Actual growled.

The line was silent for five seconds. " _I hate this existence, what cruel god has decided that CAS dedicated aircraft have to go up against air superiority fighters? Whoever it is, I fucking hate you with all my heart and soul._ " Regal Four snarled angrily.

"Agreed, how's your fuel?" Regal Actual asked.

" _Could be better boss. I have fifteen minutes of flying left in the mains and then I am down to the reserves._ " Regal Four said in a low growl.

Regal Actual glanced over his own fuel state and scowled. "Fuel could be better here. Twelve minutes left in the mains and then I got to switch to the reserves." He said.

" _Great, got any plans for taking down those J-20s?_ " Regal Four asked.

"Operation Downbeat." Regal Actual said, referring to one of the crazy plans that he had.

" _No please god no! No! No! Nooooo! Anything_ **but** _that! Please god no! No! No fucking way!_ " Regal Four begged.

"Suck it up Regal Four, we are facing two Air Superiority Fighters, we need to fight and fly like crazy if we are going to have a chance at winning." Regal Actual said with a sigh.

" _You know fucking what Actual? I hate you for doing this, may I remind you that Operation Downbeat almost never works and that the last time we tried it during Operation: Red Flag, it resulted in a wrecked Razorback?_ " Regal Four asked in a sour tone.

"Yeah, point but we were also praised for our daring because we were basically hugging the side of that canyon. The Raptors playing OPFOR couldn't hit us. Plus I told you to follow the track that I was doing _exactly_ otherwise you'd wind up being either food for the Death Jets or you'd clip the canyon wall you got spooked by something and clipped the wall." Regal Actual retorted sharply.

" _I will admit it was my fault. But can you really blame me, I got startled by that lock-on alarm!_ " Regal Four chided.

"Point, still we got to keep our wits about us. These are Chengdu J-20s, they are called _Firebolts_ for a reason. They are fast and deadly, thus we'll have to play to our strengths." Regal Actual said gruffly.

" _Affirmative, not looking forward to it though._ " Regal Four replied.

"Same, anyway let's meet up over the School Ships and then figure out how to commence Operation: Downbeat." Regal Actual stated.

" _Great._ "

* * *

 **0230 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Bunsui, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Kuromorimine Tank Six**

The engine of the Panther Tank rumbled as the battered machine followed a M118 Fastback that was evac winchester on autocannon ammunition and missiles back to the LZ/FOB. As the Panzer rumbled forward, a Schwarzkopf MBT raced by going in the other direction. However before it passed them, it's commander waved at Shinkai and it warmed the heart of the Kuromorimine Panzer commander, who returned the wave.

" _We're finally approaching safety. It feels good actually._ " Oba said over the intercom.

" _Agreed, this hell is finally ending._ " Naru added over the intercom.

"I do admit that everything could've gone better. However, we will finally be heading home." Shinkai said which earned a chorus of agreements.

The Panther rounded a corner and found quite simply pure chaos. Tilt- _jets_ were landing or hovering off-loading either vehicles or men. From one of the big American quad Tilt-jets came a formation of lethal looking light tanks, they were clearly based on the Stingray II Light Tank at least in terms of the hull but the turret drew inspiration from the German Spähpanzer RU251. All of those light tanks, were also well protected with what appeared to be an APS mounted on the turret, plus ERA and/or NERA blocks on both the hull and turret.

The tanks wasted no time in racing by as they dismounted from the Tilt-jet and started to head for the front.

Other vehicles that were dismounting from the Tilt-jets were M-ATVs and vehicles that had clearly been based on LAV-300s dismounted as well, as well as two Schwarzkopf MBTs, Spartan SPGs, a small formation of Strykers, and a single Archon Command Vehicle were all dismounting and going about various tasks. The M-ATVs, LAV-300 derivatives, the two Schwarzkopfs, and the Stingray derived Light Tanks were heading to the frontlines, with infantry in tow.

While those vehicles and troops raced to the front, or in the case of the Strykers headed not towards the frontlines but instead raced off toward the flanks and frontlines. Shinkai's earpiece crackled and a new voice filtered through. " _Kuromorimine 6 this is Mr. Big, you're cleared to board Hauler 1-2 for an express trip straight to the Kuromorimine School Ship. Tango One-Four will accompany you on the trip._ " the voice said in a sharp and commanding tone.

"Affirmative, Mr. Big. You have my thanks." Shinkai said her tone grateful.

" _Your welcome Kuromorimine 6, just follow the Fastback in front of you and they'll lead you to Hauler 1-2. Have a good day and better one tomorrow._ " Mr. Big replied.

"Ten-four." Shinkai said.

The Panther followed the Fastback IFV while the sounds of combat slowly began to fade, in the meantime. More vehicles were starting to trickle in from the front, mainly Schwarzkopf MBTs and Fastback variants. However all of the vehicles were showing clear signs of damage, ugly wounds marred the armor but while they clearly hadn't penetrated it was still incredible seeing the damage. One of the Schwarzkopf's had however suffered a clear penetration, an ugly burn ring was burned into the gunner's side of the turret, in the frontal turret armor; clearly a victim from a HEAT munition.

" _I see the Fastback Kommandant, I think they want us to board the Tiltjet first._ " Oba said over the intercom as Shinkai spotted the Fastback and their ride, which was nothing fancy, just a V-150 quad tilt-jet.

Shinkai wasn't sure why, but she didn't mind. At this point, she'd give anything to get the hell out of here. They'd been through far too much in such a short time and thus any reprieve was going to be good.

"Alright, traverse and reverse us onto the tilt-jet." Shinkai ordered.

" _Affirmative!_ " Oba replied as she traversed the tank 180-degrees and then reversed.

With a distinct sound, the clatter of metal on asphalt changed to metal on metal. The Panther steadily mounted the ramp and with instructions from a loadmaster, slowly crawled forward. When the Panther came to a lurching stop, the crew of the tilt-jet quickly set to work securing the medium tank and getting it ready for flight.

The IFV followed several minutes later and it too was secured firmly.

The engines then spun up and with an almost unnoticeable lurch, the V-150 Hoplite took off, it's load firmly secured within its belly. Without prompting the craft began to head in a rough northwesterly direction towards Niigata, Niigata Prefecture. To be specific the Kuromorimine School Ship that was docked.

* * *

 **0300 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Kuromorimine Actual**

Maho swore sharply as a burst of autocannon shells streaked by her Tiger, the next burst of shells however were on target. They slammed into the hull, causing a terrible ring to resound as the HEI rounds exploded harmlessly across the armor of the Tiger, but the noise was still incredibly loud.

Maho peered through the viewports, barely able to make out those responsible for the shells. A single Type-91 AIFV. "Target front! Enemy APC! Load HE!" Her gunner shouted.

"This is our last HE shell! Don't miss! We don't have the shells to afford misses!" Her loader snarled as she grabbed the shell and hauled it out of the rack and slammed it into the breach.

"Ammo up!" Her loader added as she closed the breach.

The gunner peered through the sight for several painful long seconds as more autocannon shells splashed across the armor of the Tiger I. "On the way!" The gunner shouted and stomped the firing pedal.

With a heaving crash, the 8.8cm/L56 KwK 36 gun spat it's lethal load. A bright flash and a flaming turret being thrown into the air signaled the end of the Type-91. "Clear!" The gunner shouted.

" _Kommandant! Contacts right behind us! It's enemy infantry!_ " Rikato shouted in alarm as the sounds of bullets pinging off the armor sounded over the comms.

 _Kuso!_ Maho thought. "Advance!" She barked and the Tiger I lurched into motion. Another vehicle appeared, crossing their path flying in full reverse. One of those new American Tempest Light Tanks.

"Driver, take it slow. That Tempest was backing up in a hurry, something may be coming after it." Maho said, she then with a quick hand motion signaled the gunner to traverse the turret and for the loader to load Sabot.

"Kommandant, we will have to pick our targets wisely. Our ammunition situation isn't good for a protracted engagement." Her loader said in a quiet tone.

"I am well aware of that, but we got to try and do whatever we can to help." Maho snapped back as the Tiger began to poke the corner.

Maho peered through her viewports and paled when she realized that the source of the smoke and flames was a Type 10 MBT, she couldn't identify it but she had a feeling about who it belonged too, and it chilled her to the bone. "It's clear for now! Driver follow that Tempest!" Maho ordered sharply.

"Verstanden" The driver replied and the Tiger once again jerked into motion and this time lumbered around a corner and began to follow the fleeing Tempest. Rikato's Jagdpanther quickly following, however her Commander was unbuttoned and firing the MG34 at something, although she stopped firing as soon as the Jagdpanther finished it's turn.

The roar of turbofans grabbed Maho's attention, she craned her head skyward. Flying high above them were four jets, their contrails cutting an intricate dance across the sky. One of the contrails was maneuvering wildly, then suddenly the craft blew apart as brief orange flash erupted. Now trailing thick black smoke the plane's remains dropped from the sky.

The other three contrails however continued their dance two of the contrails became rather sedate, but the third arced up and toward one of the contrails. It was enthralling to watch, something that Maho found that she couldn't tear her gaze away from the furball. There was just something about it that was impossible to resist.

Her loader tugging on her shirt reminded her of what the situation was. She shook her head and pushed the aerial duel to the back of her mind. Suddenly her radio crackled and a voice filtered through the earpiece. " _This is Quebec Actual! We're in the shit here! I got two, no, three ZTZ-99Cs supported by infantry and Type-91s assaulting my position! Could use some assistance!_ " A sharp commanding voice said in a harsh tone, one that underlined panic.

Maho, after hearing so much bad news. Couldn't help it, she answered. "Affirmative Quebec Actual, this is Kuromorimine Actual. We're enroute, what's your position?" Maho stated in a clip manner.

" _Kuromorimine Actual? Don't recognize the call sign, not that I am complaining. I am willing to accept any sort of firepower here. As for position, I am not sure, but we could use your assistance._ " Quebec Actual said.

"Roger." Maho said.

Truth be told, Maho didn't really want anymore distractions in getting to safety. But in her opinion she'd done enough running, enough people had died to make sure that herself and her team as well as her sister's team got to safety. She'd seen men and women only a few years older than her fight and die to protect her and her teammates and friends.

She wasn't going to stand for it anymore. Not if she could do anything in power to prevent it. This was something that she had to do, she had already failed at least two probably three of her crews because they were _her_ responsibility when they were on the field. She wasn't going to let anymore die if she could prevent it.

 _Hard to believe that just last year, I wouldn't have even considered asking the crew of a knocked out tank if they were alright._ Maho thought, yet the one thing that she was more concerned about was how would _she_ change or even more importantly how _Miho_ would change.

Her beloved little sister had already ended a life directly. If things continued, she would likely have to end more lives directly. Which was something that Maho hoped to God would never happen, she already _had_ enough weighing down on her soul. She didn't _need_ anymore on her soul.

* * *

 **0250 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Regal Squadron**

" _Damn! Damn! Damn! Hurry up boss, he's on me!_ " Regal Four shouted as he pitched his fighter up deploying flares and chaff, trying to prevent the _Firebolt_ on his tail from gaining lockon.

"I am hurrying Regal Four, but remember I got a _Firebolt_ on me as well. So I am playing a careful balancing act between making sure that he doesn't get lock-on while I try and get lock-on." Regal Actual stated as he pushed his Razorback to the edge of it's safety envelope in terms of maneuvering.

Suddenly, Regal Four pulled his craft into a tight climbing circle, the _Firebolt_ that was on his tail followed. Cursing, Regal Actual pitched up and gave pursuit, trying to gain a lock on the Chinese fighter, but the pilot was good.

However so was he. _Come on, come on._ Regal Actual thought as he fought the gee-forces to bring in HMD onto the enemy fighter so he could acquire lock-on. Yet he had to be mindful in remembering that there was a _Firebolt_ behind him, trying to line up a shot as well.

" _Hurry boss!_ " Regal Four cried.

"Almost got him, almost." Regal Actual replied before suddenly Regal Four nosed over and went into a Split-S, rolling inverted and diving away while reversing his course.

 _Fuck! That didn't help._ Regal Actual thought angrily as he followed.

As the planes came out of the maneuver, Regal Four tried to initiate a Scissors in order to try and get the advantage. Yet the _Firebolt_ wasn't having any of it and raced into a High Yo-Yo, bleeding airspeed and energy but winding up inside of Regal Four's turn. By the time that Regal Actual realized what was going on, he had already been separated from his wingman and forced into his own dogfight.

" _I am spiked!_ " Regal Four cried.

Suddenly the J-20 unleashed a missile. Despite Regal Four deploying flares and chaff the lethal warhead ignored them and slammed into the A-20 Razorback between the port vertical stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer and then it exploded. The warhead tore both port stabilizers right off and thoroughly shredded the back part of the airframe.

The Razorback promptly went out of control, spewing flames from it's demolished airframe, Regal Four didn't eject. The J-20 went to circle around, to confirm the kill. However that's when Regal Actual struck. In an instant he reversed his turn and climbed, going to full military thrust but not engaging his afterburner.

The enemy _Firebolt_ that had been chasing him lost him in an instant as his Razorback vanished into the night and despite having radar. Trying to locate a stealth jet that's painted a really dark shade of grey visually in order to confirm where the thing is, well it's almost impossible. Particularly if the enemy pilot knows what he's doing.

Unfortunately for the two _Firebolts_ , Regal Actual knew exactly what he was doing. He gained altitude and ignored the fighter that had been chasing him, he was most likely to have his head on a swivel and judging by the way that _Firebolt_ was maneuvering which was semi-erratically the pilot knew that it was a bad idea to fly in a straight line when there was a hostile aircraft in the area and you couldn't see him despite knowing that he was in visual range.

However his prey, the _Firebolt_ responsible for downing Regal Four was being more sedate about it. Flying in a wide looping turn, reversing it every now and again. _Prefect, either he's a rookie who just got his first kill or he's on the lookout for enemy helicopters. I am guessing the later although it could be the former._ Regal Actual thought as he set himself up for a High-side guns pass, better known as the Boom and Zoom.

Regal Actual checked his fuel level, he had exactly three minutes of fuel left in the mains and then the computer would automatically switchover to the internal reserves. So he was going to get exactly _one_ shot at doing this right before he would have to bug out to Komatsu Air Base to rearm and refuel.

 _Aim with the hand, shoot with the mind, kill with a heart like arctic ice._ Regal Actual thought and then he took a deep breath and then nosed over and dove. Selecting guns for this job he bored in on the _Firebolt_ which had no idea that he had a Razorback diving on him. Regal Actual brought the gun piper onto the J-20 and then called out over the radio as he pulled the trigger. "Guns! Guns! Guns!"

The GAU-15 rotary gun was one of the most important features of the A-20 Razorback. For it gave it a punch in terms of gun power that was similar to the A-10D Warthog because the GAU-15 was based on the GAU-13 which was a slimmed down variant of the legendary GAU-8 Avenger. It was a four-barrelled weapon, with a double-ended feed, and was pneumatically driven thus delivering a rate of fire 3,000 rounds per minute. Since it was based on GAU-8 Avenger, this means that it fires 30x173mm rounds with it's ammunition drum holding 1,000 rounds or roughly twenty seconds of firing time. The ammunition drum held a four to one mix of PGU-14/B API(DU) and PGU-13/B HEI, these rounds, particularly the AP rounds could tear an M47 Patton medium tank apart with effortless ease. Against a something with absolutely nothing for armor, it was pure _overkill_.

With a thundering roar like a buzzsaw the GAU-15 came to life and in the first second of firing spat no-less than _fifty_ rounds, with forty of those rounds being PGU-14/Bs and ten of those rounds being PGU-13/Bs. The preset that weapon had meant that with each trigger pull could only fire for two seconds however in those two seconds the sky would be filled with eighty Armor-Piercing Incendiary (DU) rounds and twenty High-Explosive Incendiary rounds or one hundred rounds.

The effect on the _Firebolt_ when the rounds impacted was instantaneous. Several high heat explosions ripped the airframe apart while the heavy DU API rounds simply punched gaping wounds into the Chinese Stealth jet and setting off at least one missile within it's launch bay thanks to the pyromorphic effects of Depleted Uranium rounds. The plane erupted into fire and smoke seemingly jerking in midair and then seemingly folding in on itself in the middle and simply fluttering down out of the sky in multiple large pieces. With a small flash of light, the pilot of the doomed _Firebolt_ ejected, the canopy flying off and the ejection seat physically hurling the pilot out of the downed plane as it's remains trailed fire and smoke as it fell out of the sky with all the grace of a leaf.

"Splash one!" Regal Actual announced as he pulled out of his dive and entered a climb. Converting his speed back into altitude while pointing his nose towards Komatsu Air Base and began to bug out of the area.

For the moment his battle was over.

* * *

 **0325 Hours, December 22nd,** **2025**

 **Onboard Hauler 1-2 somewhere over the Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Kuromorimine Tank Six**

The interior of the V-150 Hoplite Quad Tilt-Jet was rather well lit but it was also rather noisy due to the fact that it had four powerful Turbofan engines propelling it. The interior was also incredibly spartan, with the only seating arrangements being either inside the M118 Fastback, the Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. G "Panther" medium tank, or the sidewall seats.

As it stood though, most the passengers on board the transport were sleeping. However two of the passengers onboard were still awake, having done so through either sheer determination or the fact that they couldn't get more than ten minutes of sleep before being awoken by a nightmare.

"Jesus, kid. So you're telling me that over the course of everything that has happened since the Chinese have invaded. That you've engaged Chinese forces no less than _seven_ times, have come under artillery bombardment twice, witnessed an air battle, and did that ballsy little stunt to get across the Japanese National Route 116 bridge?" The commander of Tango 1-4, Lieutenant Quincy Hodge asked in a stunned voice.

"Yeah, we have. It hasn't been easy dealing with everything that we've been forced to deal with. I mean, my tank has been responsible for the destruction of at least fifteen enemy vehicles. If we did that well during a match, it would probably be because the match went so sideways that it wasn't even funny." Shinkai said in a weak voice.

"I can imagine that, still something tells me it hasn't been easy dealing with all the various shit you've been going through." Quincy said.

"No it hasn't sir. Over the course of the past night I've seen two Kuromorimine tanks get outright destroyed with crew members killed in both cases, we lost one in an ambush by Chinese IFVs and the other to a SPMRL strike. Geshiko's Panther was hit in the IFV ambush, she was the only survivor, the rest of her crew was killed. We lost Koume's Panther in the SPMRL bombardment, no survivors. Ōarai lost their Type 89 I-Go to an ambush from Chinese Light Tanks again no survivors, and their M3 Lee has gone missing, I don't think it was destroyed but I don't know. Last I heard, they'd lost a track, we didn't regain contact with them later." Shinkai said, leaning back in her seat.

"Damn, sorry to hear about that. Shit like that shouldn't have happened. But considering that whenever Sensha-dō matches occur you always get dozens of different types of tanks that likely aren't in anyone's warbook. They probably saw your formation and assumed that you were JGSDF running experimental kit. I mean that's probably what the official excuse is going to be, although unless you live under a rock I doubt people will buy it." Quincy replied shaking his head.

Then it became apparent that the American remembered something. "What's up with the penetration in the upper glacis?" he asked.

"It happened when a ZTQ-105 got the drop on us. Slammed a spike round right into us. We got lucky that nothing failed after that hit or that myself and my crew weren't killed by that hit. He was probably surprised as well when we returned fire and blew him straight to hell. As it stood the spalling severely injured Tezuka and the hit rattled the hell out of the rest of us. I mean, Tezuka got medevaced but I don't know if she's still alive. Plus I am not even sure about the fellow members of my team as well as Ōarai, ever since we got separated I've been worried about their fate." Shinkai said.

"Kid, no trooper. Listen she's in the hands of JSF medics and there isn't a M.A.S.H unit in any military that is as advanced as a JSF M.A.S.H unit with maybe the exception of the Eurofeds." Quincy stated.

"Whoa, whoa! Trooper?! We aren't even _in_ the military!" Shinkai exclaimed stunned.

"I know that, but you're a civilian who despite being shot at multiple times with live ammunition, coming under artillery bombardment twice, engaged hostile forces when you had no other choice, managed to get you crew to safety, and all of that while _not_ cracking under the pressure? You're a born leader who's cool under pressure and will see to the safety of those under your command. Besides the fact that you're worried for your comrades is a sign that you care for them like family and considering what you've gone through, you are a soldier." Quincy explained.

"But I don't have any training, nothing at all." Shinkai protested.

"Bullshit, from what I've heard and been able to piece together. The training that you received in becoming a Sensha-dō member, to be specific a Commander gave you a cadre of skills and instincts that even though it's simulated tank-on-tank warfare, it's still warfare. Were there any moments during that time were you could tell that something would just nag at you constantly and while you didn't know it what it was, something told you that you were getting watched?" Quincy asked.

"On occasion, most notable was right before we got ambushed by a Chinese Ground Combat team. It happened as we had been approaching an interchange, something was just telling me that we were horribly exposed and that something just didn't feel 'right'. I was about to make a remark about it when suddenly there was a rattling shriek followed shortly by a Chinese spike munition coming in and blowing the head of the Type 74 Mod G that was leading the formation clean-off." Shinkai said shivering as she remembered the piercing shriek that rent the air followed by the cataclysmic explosion that tore the thing apart.

"One of the things that vehicle and infantry commanders tend to develop if you've been shot at enough or have just been deployed enough times is that you develop a sort of sixth sense when it comes to sensing if something is off. It doesn't trigger often, but when it does it's usually something subtle like the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end, however it let's you know that something isn't right. It's saved my life once already." Quincy said in a calm tone.

"How do you handle it? I've watched nine classmates die absolutely horrific deaths, seen another get crippled for life, and a member of my own crew severely injured. That's not even going into the shit that we've done, hell we were forced to use HE against infantry several times. It just reduces men to such bloody, twisted, and such horribly disfigured state that you can't even tell if they _were_ human before hand." Shinkai asked in a low voice.

Quincy thought about that. It was a solid question, however this was only his third tour of duty, with his first two tours having been North American Joint Security Agreement (NAJSA) deployments to Mexico and during those he had gotten into several engagements against Cartel forces and they tended to lead-off with an ambush. Granted he also knew what it was like to order to use the main gun of his IFV against enemy troops and seeing them get dismembered or worse when 30mm shells ripped into their position.

"It's tough, you never get over it really. It'll probably fade in time, but I don't really know." Quincy said.

Shinkai sighed, she didn't really need this. But at the moment, the idea of getting some sleep was also starting to look appealing. Anything to get her mind off what had happened.

* * *

 **0345 hours, December 22nd 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Anteater Team**

"MOMOGA REVERSE! REVERSE!" Nekota screeched as she peered through the smoke in front them as a Chinese Type-91 AIFV rumbled forward, it's autocannon pointed menacingly in their direction.

The reason Nekota wanted them to reverse was because the Type-3 Chi Nu only had 50mm of frontal armor. That thing if it was firing APDS rounds would effortlessly slice through their frontal armor and likely the safety shell with extreme ease, _especially_ at this close range.

"GUN UP!" Piyotan screamed as the breech of the 75mm Type 3 gun closed with a seemingly hurried _clack_.

"READY AIM!" Nekota bellowed.

Momoga brought the Chi-Nu to sudden and sharp jerking stop, the chassis lurching up and down several times on it's suspension. The moment that the tank stopped lurching Nekota screamed "UTE!".

Piyotan hit the firing stud and with a loud and sharp boom, the main cannon discharged and the Type 91 lurched to a stop almost instantly and flames quickly began to consume the vehicle greedily, a glowing red ring melted into the front of the vehicle. The burning wreck was violently shoved aside as _two_ more Chinese vehicles, both being Type-91s appeared. Yet while their autocannons were deadly threats particularly at this close a range what made Nekota's eyes widen in terror wasn't the fact that the Type-91s had 2x2 ATGM missile launchers strapped to the sides of their turrets but it was the twenty or so dismounts behind the IFVs that were advancing from cover-to-cover.

"RELOAD! RELOAD, HEAT! DRIVER REVERSE AND ANGLE!" Nekota shrieked.

The Type 3 Chi-Nu rumbled backwards, it's hull angling. The Type-91s opened fire loud ringing of non-penetrations and the even more devastating _crumps_ of the more common penetrations rang through the hull of the panzer.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Momoga yelled in pain.

"GUN UP!" Piyotan shrieked amid the hefty sounding _clang_ of the gun breech closing.

"READY AIM!" Nekota bellowed.

The Type 3 came to a jarring stop, Chinese autocannon rounds still slamming into the armor with the occasional round penetrating the weak armor amid a terrible sounding crash.

"SET!" Momoga barked as the Type 3 finished settling on it's suspension.

"UTE!" Nekota yelled and once again the 75mm gun roared it's challenge and the lead Type 91 exploded in a fantastic ball of flame and smoke.

"TARGET DESTROYED!" Piyotan boomed.

"LOAD HEAT!" Nekota yelled.

"We're out of HEAT!" Piyotan screamed.

"FUCK! LOAD HE!" Nekota barked.

"Two rounds of HE after this! GUN UP!" Piyotan shouted as the round was slammed home into the breech.

"UTE!" Nekota snarled and once again Anteater bellowed it's fury.

The Chinese AIFV simply erupted like a fiery volcano it's turret being effortlessly flung a good seven or eight feet up into the air. Amid a loud _boom_ that was heard through the fighting compartment.

"Clear, clear." Nekota said, trying to get her racing heart, heavy breathing, and shaking hands under control. That had been interesting, fighting several of those lethal Type 91s. Something told Nekota that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"How are we looking?" Nekota said after a minute.

"Badly damaged, I caught shrapnel and a fair amount too and something's wrong with my left eye. We haven't suffered crippling damage yet, but that's bound to change." Momoga said in pain.

"Shit, how's our ammunition status?" Nekota asked.

"Absolutely FUBAR. Two HE rounds, three APFSDS, all of our Canister, no HEAT, and no smoke. We are just about shit out of ammunition and luck." Piyotan replied in a weak tone.

Suddenly a voice crackled over the radio. " _Attention unidentified tank, this is Bravo Actual, we're coming up on your six. Two rollers in tow._ " A sharp commanding voice said.

Nekota snapped around so fast in her seat that she felt her back crack. Three Main Battle Tanks loomed out of the smoke, their olive drab armor was pockmarked and scorched. But just by looking at the design, it was clear what they were. American Abrams MBTs, they had the full TUSK package installed.

Nekota keyed her mic. "Good to see you Bravo Actual. This is Anteater Team, part of the Ōarai Girls High School Sensha-dō Team and we've had a long day, really hoping we can get to the Ōarai School Ship." she said.

" _Affirmative, those are part of our orders anyway. Let me tell you, tracking down WWII era tanks in this mess is damn near impossible. It doesn't help that the goddamned Chinese keep shooting down our drones. Anyway, let's get you home._ " The commander of Bravo Actual said over the freq.

"Thanks, anything to get out of this hell. Would've been nice though if you had gotten here five minutes ago." Nekota snapped.

" _Sorry, but things are hectic. We got units begging for extraction, shouting for reinforcements, calling in fire-missions, you name it then it's happening. What's worse is that the Chinese practically own the skies, which is making life hell for the flyboys who are flying CAS missions. Plus we've had to dodge a couple of airstrikes ourselves._ " Bravo actual said.

"Well excuse me then. But for now, let's just get home." Nekota said.

" _Agreed, let's roll out._ " Bravo Actual said.

* * *

 **0402 hours, December 22nd 2025**

 **Kuromorimine Girls High School Ship currently docked at the Port of Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Shino Nishizumi**

To say that Shino Nishizumi was worried would be an understatement. Members of Team-A as well as most of Team-B and Team-C as well as the Maus were set up in defensive positions ready to fight to the end to protect the entrances to the school ships. Not only that but then she received word that the match zone had been one of the first places hit by the Chinese and thus she was extremely worried about her two daughters first and foremost followed by their Sensha-dō Teams.

Of course the fact that it would be decided that her school ship as well as Ōarai would be used to evacuate civilians as well as the military forces holding the Niigata pocket when it collapsed also surprised her and irked her a little. Mainly because while she could accept the civilians, if any military assets like tanks or SPGs were spotted on the ship's deck they would be able to be attacked because they were transporting war material.

Just too top it all off, someone woke her up just ten minutes ago saying that there was an American V-150 Hoplite Tiltjet carrying in their words "A priority one cargo that requires the attention of headmistress.".

"When will the Hoplite arrive?" Shino asked into the small walkie-talkie that connected her with the ATC for the small airport that the school ship had.

" _They are less than five minutes out. We already have tally on them and they are moving like a bat out of hell. Although considering how the Chinese practically own the skies I am not surprised._ " The man in the ATC said.

"Right." Shino said as the low whine of the Hoplite's engines began to reach her ears.

The big transport appeared two minutes later with a roar of engines. In terms of size, it's fuselage was between a C-17 and a C-130. It looked big enough that while it would be a tight squeeze you could probably fit three maybe four light tanks depending on how tight of a squeeze you went for. Still regardless she watch with no small amount of awe as the four wings it had, went from horizontal to vertical and arrested the craft's forward motion and then with a grace that didn't seem possible, the craft's landing gear deployed and then descended.

With a slight whir, the rear ramp lowered and Shino scowled angrily as first an M118 Fastback lumbered off the back of the V-150, it's Hybrid engine barely making a sound. But before she could get on the walkie-talkie and verbally tear the wings of the aircrew. A new sound roared to life, judging by the sound of it, the noise was a Sensha-dō Panzer engine.

Then the source of the noise appeared and Shino's heart leaped into her throat in shock. For lumbering down the ramp in German Panzer Tan was a something that Shino would _never_ forget. It was extremely battered and dirtied but still intact, a Kuromorimine Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. G "Panther", but what made it more memorable was the fact that the tank was completely unbuttoned and her crew was visible, it was the A-Team's Tank Six, but something was wrong where was Tezuka, the radio operator/bow machine gunner? Then she saw the penetration and quickly put the dots together and grimaced at the picture it put together.

Even from this distance, Shino could tell that they were exhausted but glad to be alive. Still now it was clear as to why the Hoplite had requested priority for landing. It was bringing students home.

The Panther came closer, the crew clearly saw her now. When it got to within a reasonable distance, the vehicle stopped. "Headmistress!" The commander shouted in surprise.

"Shinkai, it's good to see that yourself and your crew are alive. What happened? Where's Tezuka?" Shino asked as her mind went into overdrive.

"It's a long story, one that we're willing to tell. But can we at least take a shower first so we can feel human again?" Shinkai asked in a calm tone.

Shino thought about it and decided it would be the best bet. "Granted, but be quick about it. I want to know what happened." she said.

"Thanks headmistress, where do you want us to meet?" Shinkai asked.

"The briefing room." Shino said simply.

"Yes headmistress, will be there" Shinkai checked her watch. "In an hour at the very most. Oba put her in gear. Let's get the old girl back to the garage and then let's all take a shower and then see about getting a nice strong drink or something." Shinkai said calmly and Shino nodded in response it seemed like a reasonable choice.

"Right!" Oba said and the Panther traversed before jerking into motion and heading towards the garages.

It left Shino alone with her thoughts as she started walking towards the garages herself, because it was were the briefing room was at.

* * *

 **0430 Hours, December 22nd, 2025**

 **Niigata, Niigata Prefecture**

 **Following Anglerfish Team**

With a devastating _boom_ that shook the Panzer IV horrifically a mortar round landed next to the Panzer and stripped away a pair of side armor panels. "Commander, the tracks can't take much more of that. I estimate maybe two rounds before they snap and we got to fix them." Mako said.

"Acknowledged. We must continue our advance, otherwise our chances of getting out of here will go down the drain." Miho said before glancing at Yukari who had a HEAT round firmly in her grasp, the breach of the 75mm gun was open and ready to accept a round.

"Right." Mako said and the Panzer lurched forward with the engine rumbling. Miho glanced through the viewports behind her and caught a glimpse of the battered Dragoon that was following them.

Miho had just begun to look forward again when suddenly something that caught her completely off guard burst out from a storefront in an explosion of glass and plaster. Before it had even begun to disperse an immense gaping wound in the cloud of dust, grit, and plaster was blasted outward by a cannon blast. _Something_ blitzed past the Panzer IV and amid the sound of an explosion followed by a loud crash just decapitated the Stryker.

A tic that Miho had developed from her time at Kuromorimine came screaming back to the surface. "Mako, den Motorbegrenzer ausschalten und mit voller Drossel auf diese Wolke vorrücken! Hana geht laut auf die koaxiale Maschinengewehr, leuchtet der Bastard in dieser Sache auf! Yukari, laden Sie Rauch und bereiten Sie sich auf einen Trommelfell in den Bruch! Saori traf es mit deinem MG!" she roared.

Thankfully the crew understood what Miho said in an instant for the Panzer IV's engine unleashed a mighty roar and rocketed forward. Yukari slammed the HEAT round back into the rack and grabbed a smoke and slammed it into the breach. "UP!" she screamed and then grabbed a APFSDS round. Moments later, bursts of 7.92mm Machine gun fire roared out of the two MG34 Machine Guns sending bursts of angrily tracers streaking into the cloud of dust and plaster which was beginning to settle. Flashes of light appeared within the cloud as rounds hit home and the sparkled off the armor.

Hana hit the firing stud and the 75mm gun vomited a smoke shell. The round landed roughly a meter in front of the dark and ominous shape that was rapidly resolving, and a thick white cloud erupted in front of it and obscured it. The gun breach had just barely finished moving when Yukari slammed the APFSDS munition into the breach and slammed it shut. "READY UP!" she yelled.

Then a Chinese MBT came screaming out of the smoke. To Miho's horror it was a ZTZ-99, armed with a 125mm/L50 main gun plus machine guns and had extremely tough composite armor. It's main gun pointed right at them, Mako reacted instantly and pivoted the tank to right and almost got them out of the firing line in time. The 125mm smoothbore flashed and an absolutely _deafening_ **bang** filled the fighting compartment as the APFSDS round shattered the only remaining side armor panel on the left side of the panzer, but the panel did it's job and deflected the spike just enough so that when it slammed into the hull it didn't penetrate but it still a tore an incredible gash into the side armor that was nearly two feet long and went all the way to the spall liner backplate and still gouged a good section of backplate out, causing a noticeable bulge in it.

"FEUER!" Miho shouted, despite knowing that the 75mm APFSDS round would do exactly crap to a ZTZ-99, if it even hit to begin with, she hoped it would startle the crew.

"On the way!" Hana yelled and depressed the firing stud. Once again Anglerfish bellowed it's fury and the 75mm Spike round screamed forth and slammed into the turret of the hulking Chinese Monster and glanced off the armor amid a terrific shower of sparks.

Before Miho could even order for another Sabot round in the tube. Yukari already had one and was slamming the round into the breach. Then suddenly the tank snapped from going right to suddenly going left as the gun tube on the Chinese MBT lowered and then an instant later the 125mm gun roared it's answer.

Steel screamed in protest as the spike munition tore into a right side armor panel, effortlessly shattered it and then slammed into the armor plating behind it and scored a partial penetration tearing through a foot and half long section of armor, the spall liner, and a section of backplate before deflection managed to stop the lethal munition. As it stood the air in the fighting compartment noticeably increased in temperature and the tip of the lethal Kinetic Energy Penetrator became _visible_ inside the fighting compartment, smoking noticeably.

"Komm zu Mako, du musst diese Pistole überholen!" Miho ordered sharply as that great big scary 125mm gun went back to it's loading angle. She'd counted that they had roughly seven seconds before that gun would be ready to fire again and that the next shot was going to be _guaranteed_ penetration either because the Spike round wouldn't hit an armor panel or it would be a HEAT munition and it just wouldn't matter.

"Yatte imasu!" Mako hissed as she dropped the Panzer into it's fastest gear. If they could just get at the monster's side or even better the rear of the Chinese monster they were dueling then they could easily kill it. Problem was they had to outrun the damn 125 that the thing had.

Almost as if on cue, the ZTZ-99 realizing what they were trying to do went into reverse. That _couldn't_ happen, no matter what if it managed to keep the distance open they wouldn't be able to defeat this monster and then the gun tube started to lower.

"Immobilisieren Sie diesen Hurensohn! FEUER!" Miho roared.

Hana wasted no time and fired, the Spike flew out of the barrel and by some miracle skewered the left forward main drive wheel. The immense kinetic force behind the impact caused the wheel to disintegrate and the tracks got entangled in the guiding wheels and the sudden differential in momentum swung the ZTZ-99 violently to one side, a second later the 125 roared like an angry god and a section of street in front of them exploded.

"Load sabot!" Miho barked as the turret of the ZTZ-99 swung around to face them. But Miho had the ChiChom MBT right where she wanted it, showing it's side to her.

"Bereites Ziel!" Miho said and the Panzer IV came to a sharp stop. "FEUER!" she snapped.

"Tochū!" Hana said and hit the firing stud for the main gun. Yet again, Anglerfish let out a thunderous _crack_ from it's main gun. The 75mm APFSDS munition crossed the distance so fast that it seemed to be instantaneous. The spike effortlessly burrowed through the composite armor hide of the 54-ton monster and flames exploded outward, amid a monstrous detonation as the ammunition in the carousel autoloader ignited and all of that explosive energy looked for a way out and that way out was up. The turret was blown easily at least three meters into the air and landed with a heavy _crash_ several meters away from the hull.

The sound after that resounded through the fighting compartment was one of heavy breathing and the words "clear." being repeated several times.

* * *

 **AN: That's the end of the chapter.**

 **Now before you cry foul on the A-20 killing a J-20, may I point out that well, who knows how long those pilots had been flying, it's also night so you tend to fly a little less like crazy, plus well Regal Actual knew what he was doing.**

 **As for Miho's crew understanding German. The way I see it is that Miho likely learned German at Kuromorimine and all the labels and manuals and such for the Panzer IV would be in German. Plus well it's likely that during stressful situations Miho sometimes does something that she did at Kuromorimine which was giving her orders out in rapid fire German.**

 _ **Blehh. Finally. Starting a new job, weather interruptions(Thor lives in Florida), and just life in general. We finally got it over and done with.**_

 **As for the ZTZ-99 not penetrating, I don't know what the Spikes that thing fires are made of, most likely either Tungsten Carbide or DU. However for all I know they could be hardened steel surrounding a Tungsten Carbide or Depleted Uranium core like the old Soviet 3BM27 or 3BM33 APFSDS-T rounds. Which would make those spikes more susceptible to being affected by the** _ **Schurzen**_ **armor panels because of the steel. But if they are solid Tungsten Carbide or Depleted Uranium not so much it, but like I said I just don't know.**

 **Translations:**

" **Mako, den Motorbegrenzer ausschalten und mit voller Drossel auf diese Wolke vorrücken! Hana geht laut auf die koaxiale Maschinengewehr, leuchtet der Bastard in dieser Sache auf! Yukari, laden Sie Rauch und bereiten Sie sich auf einen Trommelfell in den Bruch! Saori traf es mit deinem MG!" translates into "Mako, disengage the engine limiter and advance at full throttle toward that cloud! Hana go loud on the coaxial machine gun, light the bastard inside that thing up! Yukari, load smoke and prepare to ram a sabot in the breach! Saori hit it with your MG!"**

" **Komm zu Mako, du musst diese Pistole überholen!" translates to "Come on Mako, you got to outrun that gun!"**

" **Yatte imasu!" translates "I am trying!"**

" **FEUER!" translates "FIRE!"**

" **Immobilisieren Sie diesen Hurensohn! FEUER!" translates "Immobilize that son of bitch! FIRE!"**

" **Bereites Ziel!" translates to "Ready aim!"**

" **Tochū!" translates to "On the way!"**


End file.
